


One Piece AUs

by RZWrites



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:47:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26482156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RZWrites/pseuds/RZWrites
Summary: To say the least, I am enjoying too much thinking up AUs and inserting the character R into these stories with C.These are the stories that happen because of my mind running wild and creating alternative time lines for both One Piece and the two OCs owned by nue-nue-nomi and I.Warnings will be written in the notes at the beginning of each AU story due to me being on mobile as of this moment.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> R is the singer of a band known as Nightingale, but their latest jig makes few people take notice of him and his peculiar ways.  
> Band/Gang AU!
> 
> Characters: R, C, Bege Capone, Marco, Zeff, Monkey D. Luffy, Eustass Kidd, Trafalgar Law, Chiffon, Katakuri, Pez, Vito, Sanji, Robin, Nami, Killer
> 
> Warnings: heart break, unrequited love, drug abuse mention, death mention and alcoholism mention. 
> 
> Long fic.

It was just another night in that bar, just another normal night of drinking, fooling around and having fun. Though it wasn't like that for everyone present. Some people went there to dull the pain within their soul, forget the present and to gain the merciful darkness of dreamless sleep, others were there in search of love or a simple one night stand. There were people who plotted, and there were those who grieved. Didn't really matter what they were grieving really, death of a loved one, lost love, missing memories, fleeting time, one can't put a measure to pain and the melancholia that follows after, that numbing feeling like nothing in the world matters anymore. You can't cry despite of wanting to, you can't scream because of that lump that's eternally stuck in there, your eyes just sting, your throat aches, there's no energy to do anything.

It was a dim light, only thing that was clearly lit up was the stage that was currently inhabited by a small band. You could smell the alcohol in the air, mixing with the scent of tobacco and food. The sound of glasses, chatter and liquid being poured mixed with the steady beat of the rockish song.

Out of the blue, the mood seemed to change, prompting few people to look at the stage. One of these people was Eustass "Captain" Kid, gang leader and self proclaimed fashion icon. The red head furrowed his shaved brow as he judged the clearly punk wannabe band.

"The singer looks too out of the place. Is he a spare or something?", he said bluntly to his right hand man, Killer, who made an effort to glance at the stage as well, his masked face as unreadable as always.

While the other members of the band, called Nightingale of all things, were dressed in spandex, black leather and chains added with heavy makeup and crazy hairstyles, the lead singer simply wore a black button up that was open just enough to show the hints of the muscles on his lean body, and dark jeans added with cross necklace and earrings. The only makeup he wore was eyeliner from the looks of it, which was a strong contrast to the black lips and dark eyeshadow with white faces of his fellow band members. The singer was also the only one whose hair didn't look like it was a solid block balancing on top of his head, his bright red hair moving with his head movements, occasionally falling over his left eye only to be swiftly flipped aside.

He then started to pay attention to the music itself, which had been the reason why people were now looking at the band with mixed facial expressions.

Few tables away another gang leader furrowed his brows, thinking. "Hey isn't this song a bit weird? The guy really sounds like he's hurting, you know", the table fell silent as the ten people started to pay more attention to the mentioned song. The singer's voice was holding up surprisingly well, though there was some clear anger and frustration in there, his notes were sung pure, which wasn't something you'd expect from a band that looked like punk band caricature. "Is this... A song about jealousy? Towards a girl?" a ginger woman said, surprised to hear such song be sung in that bar. Her eyes were glued on the band, and more over the lead singer. She couldn't see his eyes, but something about him was.. Not okay. She'd never seen someone sing like that in her life before, baring their actual feelings during a song and revealing the ugly side of those emotions. This man had wanted to have someone look at him and only him, to possess them, was envious of their bond with someone else and was jealous over this person. It was an ugly emotion filled with uncertainty and lack of self confidence, and this song was about that feeling, but it was hidden behind upbeat music and flirty tones.

Killer narrowed his eyes when the next song started, it was a more dangerous sounding song. To him it was a misdirection, unrequited love and frustration being hidden behind anger and wishing someone to die, Russian roulette game encouraging such thing. But what was it really that the song writer was trying to kill? Or was he just... Frustrated over someone's actions? How they kept lying, how they didn't realise how the person was feeling. "I think.... The reason why he isn't matching with the rest is because he's in a bad spot himself. Mentally", he finally answered to his boss' annoyed comment about style.

On his right a person shifted on their seat, soon turning around to look at him. Their facial expression was a bit sheepish, as if they'd been caught eavesdropping to them. "Actually.... R has always stuck out in the group ever since they started", he said smiling to them awkwardly, "He isn't into the dramatics like the others are and likes to be left on his own". Both men stared at the guy, before their gaze shifted back to the band and then back at the man. "R?" Eustass repeated. "The lead singer, he actually worked at another bar before the group's leader just made him join them. Apparently the guy heard him sing and since they were lacking a singer, he got the job", the man explained nervously, "All the members are referred to by a letter".

Trafalgar Law, leader of the Heart Gang, casually listened to the conversation of his fellow gang leader while also noting the not so subtle lyrics of the songs. From his understanding, the vocalist was also the song writer, so one could say that he was writing his thoughts and emotions into the songs, it was probably a form of self therapy. Writing things down can help a person to deal with unfamiliar emotions after all. As he closed his eyes, his ears picked up more colours and emotions from the voice. The singer wanted to move on, but the wound was too fresh, he didn't want to be there, at the center of the attention, he didn't want to feel anymore.

It was a special blend of agony, a personal hell that couldn't be escaped from. It made good songs that was for sure, but those songs were such a big contrast to the usual ones. Third and final song picked up again the rock styled singing, the pain could be heard now a lot clearer. The song wasn't really about those feelings of broken heart, but rather how those feelings could escalate into a climax called sadness and melancholia, how it felt like the world hated them. And still.... The singer held on. Kept living. Because of unknown reasons. Perhaps it was to force the world to acknowledge their existence, perhaps it was so they could discover their own self worth, there was no clear answer. But it was the last song of that evening.

Under the gaze of the gangs, the band made one swift bow before it started to pack the instruments. The singer, who also apparently played a guitar was soon seen strapping the thing onto his back, making Law cringe ever so slightly. It was a hard cover case for an electronic guitar, and those things weighted like sin, carrying them on your back was bound to eventually get you hurt.

When R got off the stage, he could feel the familiar numbness slowly sweep into his very being, slowly growing like a cancer. He was fine with the feeling, or that's what he told himself as he started to cross the room full of people. None of them really paid mind to him, and he preferred that. It made it easier for him to exist and just live his life. He adjusted the strap supporting his guitar, avoiding gazes of those who did pay mind to him. The rest of the band, C (not to be confused with C from Denden Tea), O and W following the suite, excitedly talking about their little concert. He really didn't want them to talk to him now, and especially not about the songs they'd just performed a few minutes ago.

Because he wasn't ready to confront that problem he had.

As they exited the dimly lit building to the crispy cold air and street lights, R saw W embrace a woman happily. Ah, that's a sight he'd very much didn't want to see. As the partners of the rest arrived, R had officially made a U-turn in favour of not following the couples. It made him feel so uncomfortable, being the only one without a partner, like he didn't belong. There was a sense of isolation, like he was in a diamond box, watching everything unfold before him, and just like was in the nature of diamond, he couldn't break through it. It hurt even more seeing that W was happily dating a woman, it meant that R never had a chance to begin with.

He'd made a grave mistake in developing a crush on the bassist. They weren't interested in men like that. They saw dating a man to be a liability. And they were in love with a woman. R didn't want to be bitter about it, it was such a normal thing to happen in the world. You couldn't always have what you wanted. But he still was. Because he didn't really belong with these people, because he didn't really know them, they spoke in the same words as he did yet it seemed like its own language. He'd tried to learn, he'd tried to become closer, but whenever he spoke, he could see their eyes grow dull as the other band members spaced out as they couldn't understand what he was saying to them. The bass player was the only who had shown even remote interest in what he was saying aside from the song ideas, but then again.. He didn't actually pay attention to what R was really trying to say. It was frustrating.

As he kept walking forward, he lit up a cigarette, inhaling its toxicity deeply before blowing out a cloud of smoke. In this world, there were only few things that'd make him relax, smoking was one of them. Though to his utter displease, the second thing that usually would help him to calm down only made him feel worse this time around as the sudden rain poar decided to soak him entirely. The guitar would be fine in her waterproof case. R himself not so much. Shaking his head, the singer-guitarist started to move towards a certain little restaurant that was always open, it's old yet energetic chef would welcome him as always and offer a free change of clothes. Probably. He could pay him though.

Everything that night just felt wrong and out of place, he couldn't even will the thoughts away like he'd usually do, he couldn't find any distractions. Street during the small hours never had any life in it any way.

Ignoring the sound of splashing water, he passed several streets, not even noticing that someone was being shanked there by the local turf owning gang, Fire Tank, nor that the boss, often called "Father" had turned to look after him.

His mind was playing the scene over and over again, the scene in which he found out that W was taken, followed by the times the man had lied about being sick, unable to come to the practice sessions, how he'd just glossed over the lyrics not realising what they meant, not understanding the weight they had, light smiles, empty words, loneliness. W had been the only thing keeping him connected to the group to begin with. But now that he spent less and less time with them, R felt like he was there only to provide the bare necessity of a singer and a song writer. The other guys never included him in their talks, they never asked for his opinion, they never even looked at him. Or at least that's how it felt. But of course that was just natural. He was a new comer.

His feet took him to the fast food joint, nearly being immediately kicked out by one of its cooks, only to be stopped by another one. The blonde cook with curly brows, who he'd seen briefly at the bar. "..... Is she here already?" he asked meekly, forcing a tired smile onto his face. By she, the red head meant his friend, who worked at the joint in another shift. It'd become a habit of his to arrive at the end of it so they both could have a meal before walking home together. They shared a house after all, and it was very normal for one of them to forget the keys. The cook's eyes were cold as always when he was in the presence of another man, but he still gave an answer in a mildly annoyed tone. "Her shift ends in couple of minutes. You having the usual?"

R simply nodded before he started to shiver, his body finally remembering that it was soaked and the clothes were now clinging to his skin. It was uncomfortable and cold. Probably the reason why "Patty" didn't want to let him in.

As he entered the building, a towel immediately dropped onto his head, confused glance around showing that it was the owner, who'd thrown the thing at him. Zeff, former gang leader himself, was the man who'd opened the restaurant around seven years ago after a tragic incident that cost him his leg, R had been a regular since then as his own parents had brought him there often when he did good at something to celebrate. Zeff had become like an uncle to him, helping him cope with the loss of his parents couple of years prior in a car accident. R hadn't been an adult at that point, so his relatives were expected to take him in. Expect that his reaction to this had made Zeff suspicious of these relatives of his, his old connections soon uncovering the manipulative nature of them along with the emotional abuse. 

R's mother had been incapable of cutting these relatives out of their life, and the boy himself had been more than capable of reading between their lies and manipulation. So Zeff had given a tip about what was going on to couple of his old pals, and the problem had been resolved.

R hadn't accepted his offer of letting him stay and work at his restaurant though, claiming that he'd done more than enough and that he could make it. Naturally, Zeff and few other old time leaders had made some… arrangements, without the boy knowing. 

"Change, you'll catch a cold otherwise", the old man said, gesturing towards the restroom, "We'll have a table ready for you when you come back". R accepted the clothes, silently pondering if he should leave more tip than usual to pay for the spares, never quite putting together how Zeff seemed to always have his size available.

Outside the restaurant, one Bege Capone was having his own smoke break after a successful shanking of a person at the alley, trying to put together what he'd just witnessed. You see, it was not normal to have someone walk past your spot for murder and not react to it at all. So naturally he'd been curious and a bit alarmed. Maybe the kid was a good actor and was on his way to the police station. He'd needed to see for himself. But the redhead hadn't even reacted to him following behind.

Then there was the whole lack of an umbrella, the posture, and how the male hadn't even bothered to walk normally, his feet slowly dragging. And he'd stopped at this restaurant. It was at this point that Bege had been able to see his eyes; void of life, utterly defeated. He winked one of his men to enter as a customer, ready to eavesdrop.

R pulled the noticeably warm shirt over his head, taking a moment to brush his fingers over the texture of it. It wasn't cotton or polyester mix like he'd anticipated, nor was it wool, it was softer, smoother, maybe fleece? And it was a pleasant shade of pale blossom, with eggshell white letters spelling "Dove" across his chest. He'd already put on the black trousers, no doubt made of polyester as was the norm for sports pants. The redhead put his hands into the pockets, testing how deep they were.

When he finally stepped out of the restroom, carrying his soaking clothes, he looked a lot more like he was in his teens, probably 16, instead of being in his early 20s. His hair was a lot poofier looking thanks to the towel, but he didn't really mind the messy look, the cross necklace and the earrings were still on their place. Sanji, the blonde cook, begrudgingly pointed him to a table, but as soon as R was about to ask him how much he owed, he was shot down. "The geezer said that you don't need to pay for anything tonight, also we'll be adding a hot chocolate into your meal", he said before stalking off, leaving behind a stunned musician. 

He didn't have to wait for long before his long term friend since childhood, Cecilia "C" danced out of the backroom to join him. She'd already switched from her uniform to casual wear. "Yahhoo!" she greeted him cheerily as she took a seat, Sanji soon arriving with their usual orders and the extra hot chocolate. R noted absentmindedly how C had also gotten a cup, but her hot chocolate had been absolutely destroyed with whipped cream and sprinkles. Classic Sanji. 

"How was the gig?" she asked after successfully getting herself a cream moustache. R sighed before he allowed his head come in touch with the hard wooden table. "I'm exhausted, none of the guys noticed a thing, Cole was high on the thing his friend got him, Oliver paid attention to the girls, the pianist guy we have every now and then was an absolute mess and William-Richard-", Cecilia stopped him right there and then, her face bewildered. "His name is William-Richard?", "Well he goes by Will-", "HE'S A WILLY DICK??" 

In the table behind them, another customer started to cough, no doubt from accidentally inhaling while drinking. R shot Cecilia a look. "As I was saying, he goes by Will since my name is Richard", he then sighed again, "Sorry, I didn't mean to come off as angry like that. It's just… Will completely missed the point of my songs, and the other guys just keep yapping about things that have no significance, about gangs and their supposed big shot friends and I…". The table fell silent, Cecilia taking in the new information she'd just gathered from this while Richard, or Dick/R, was gathering his thoughts.

"It's all so bad C, I don't feel like I'm really part of them, the Nightingale, they didn't even choose a name that'd actually represent them that well, they only chose that because it had the word night in it", Dick mumbled from the table level, "They don't practice the songs, they don't think about how weird they look on the stage, how uncomfortable it'll be to wear those on the long run, they arrive late to the concerts, they're unreliable, communication between us is zero which makes it so hard to write songs and it's all just so messy". With each word, he sounded more and more broken, lost and scared. And once the first few problems were voiced, the rest fell from his lips as if a dam had been broken. Unbeknownst to him, his rambles were being listened to by not only one, or two, but five people, two of which were the Owner of the restaurant and his protégé. 

Finally after a long moment of the redhead letting out his emotions, thoughts and pain, he sat up, to look his friend in the eye. Those yellow catlike eyes looking dull, tired and desperate. And he voiced his last line of worry. "What should I do? Can someone give me an order so I'll know? Point me into the direction of what's right? Is there such direction at all? Please, Cecilia, what can I do?" 

Cecilia stared right back at him, without any pity in her eyes, knowing that what Dick was really asking for wasn't that order but rather a permission. She put her cup down, having finally emptied it from the monstrosity that was her hot chocolate. "You can call in sick tomorrow, rest properly", she wiped the remaining cream from her top lip, "it's okay to do that, and you can cry. No, you should cry. One man isn't supposed to be carrying such a load". 

Sanji took out his cigarette as he observed from afar the young man's body language, how the redhead's body just froze, his facial expression shifting into slight shock. He started to shake. Then tears started to form into his eyes as he instinctively glenched his teeth together, as if that'd be able to change anything. The sniffles will still be heard, that small whimper will still escape your throat, the tears will keep falling. There is really no stopping something like that. Sanji vaguely remembered the last time he'd seen the man cry, and even then it'd been just as horrifying and sad for him to watch. Dick was a quiet crier. Even when he'd lost his family, he'd just stood there, quietly whimpering, without saying a word while his tears fell on the floor.

It would've been better if he'd wailed loudly. It'd been easier to stand. Sanji knew how to deal with loudness, he was a loud person himself even if he did try to not be. 

Bege gritted his teeth in anger, he had no idea how to deal with issues like this, how does one even start to work around a heartbreak? Sure he could have Chiffon talk to the boy. That didn't sound too bad of an idea. He could easily take the boy with him when the duo exited the building.

Cecilia patted Dick's head lightly, messing with the already messy locks even further. At least his day couldn't get any further, right? She thought to herself unaware of the people gathering near their location. 

It was just one of those things that kept annoying them, the singer of that band, and that's how the three gangs ended up standing in the same alley staring one another down. Kid Gang, Hearts and Straw Hats. The three bosses stared one another without blinking, when the youngest of them, Straw Hat leader Luffy, turned around in favour of walking to the joint. They'd all been informed by their own men of the man walking in there, the condition he was in, whether or not he was followed, things like that. The said men had also stayed in the restaurant, phones sending every word forward. 

None of them were too sure about what was going on, nor why they had that annoying feeling of a need to protect, but it was there alright. When they arrived to the scene however, they managed to be there just in time to see the duo leave, the redhead bow as he thanked the owner, turn to talk to a girl. 

….. And be shiftly thrown into a car supporting the Fire Tank crest, leaving behind a shocked girl. 

"Marco promised to drop us home because of the rain", Cecilia said as she showed to Dick that she had the keys, "He's probably near the parking lot". Dick nodded, his throat a bit hoarse from crying. Without missing a beat, he turned around and bowed to Zeff while Sanji and few other cooks looked at his doings with interest. "Thank you so much for your help, I'll make sure to pay it back to you soon", he said as he rouse back up, looking the owner directly in the eyes and smiled. He then turned to look at the light brown haired girl. "Did he say which spot he was at?", "Ummm…. Gate?" 

Dick opened his mouth to say something, but his vision blurred for a split second. When it returned to normal, he found himself in a car, surrounded by scary looking people. "E? Ehh? H-hold on a second-", before he'd be able to do anything else, the car was already speeding towards its unknown destination. Dick turned to look behind in shock, seeing Cecilia's horrified expression, his guitar on the ground and Marco running at Cecilia yelling something. 

The car ride was jarringly silent as the young man tried his best to be as small as possible to avoid being looked at by these scary people, for all he knew they might get annoyed in him and decide to annihilate his being right there and then. Despite of doing this, he sensed no ill intent from any of the men present, quite the few of them seemed to be worried of something. Dick blinked, this wasn't good, he was starting to feel sleepy. Well… It was no wonder, the clock had been nearing 3 am last time he'd checked. He pinched the bridge of his nose, he mustn't fall asleep now.

He needed to keep track on where they were and what was going on an-

Without a warning, the car appeared to go into a tunnel, making the poor man panic a little, he was fairly sure that the closest tunnel was midway to the next city. And that was at least 170 kilometres away from the town!

As he closed his eyes to make it easier for him to calm down and concentrate on his own breathing, he failed to notice the hand that'd soon yank him out of the vehicle once more. Startling the man even more. Dick was being held a bit above the ground by a man with a long tongue, who swung him around like a toy. The confused and scared out of his mind man didn't trust this man to not do any sudden movements and thus he kept his wide eyes on the man. Unblinking. 

He acknowledged that he didn't have enough strength to fight the man, and he also lacked stable ground to stand on, so his best option was to do nothing and pray. Which is what he'd do if he was smart. 

Instead, he relaxed his entire body, which made it a lot harder for the man to hold onto. It was exactly what cats did when they didn't feel like being held. And just like that, Dick was able to slide on the floor as if he'd turned into water before rolling away from the offender and getting back on his feet, eyes still not leaving him. "You should've asked for my consent", he said in a warning tone, "I don't like being touched, and I especially don't like being held on air like a ragdoll".

The man said nothing, instead, he seemed to be concentrating on something behind him, which of course made Dick look back. He came to be face to face with an older man, who was dressed up in a mafialike way, hat and everything.

"Oh- I.. am in trouble aren't I?" 

Cecilia stared after the car as it sped away her friend within it. On the other side of the thing was three groups she recognised as the newly founded gangs that'd managed to get fame in quite a short time. Trafalgar "Surgeon of Death" Law, Eustass "Captain" Kid and Monkey D. "Straw Hat" Luffy. She also recognised the crest on the car, which is why she was actually screaming bloody murder on the inside. Fire Tank was a mafia family turned gang, led by a truly terrifying and merciless man, Bege Capone. There was no telling what he wanted with Dick, nor if he'd survive the encounter. 

She heard fast footsteps coming towards her, heard Marco shouting her name, but Cecilia had no strength to turn to look behind her. It had been so sudden, she was in a slight state of shock. Marco stopped next to her, looking around frantically in search of Dick no doubt. "He was taken", she said when her voice returned from its long trip to yonder way. The middle aged pineapple looked at her his brows up. "Taken?", "Uhhuh, he was taken right in front of my eyes by the Fire Tank" 

Marco cursed loudly just what business would that guy have with the redhead? An image of the redhead's hazy looking golden eyes and a needle laying next to him on the ground flashed brightly in Marco's head, painting an eery picture of his worst nightmare as a doctor. He didn't want to believe such thing to be possible, but it was something that could happen all too easily. It had been too little while ago, it was all still fresh, the temptation was present. 

It wasn't a memory per say, rather a mental image of what could happen, a forewarning, but the type that could just as easily be wrong as it isn't rooted in present facts but rather fears and outdated information. 

"He hasn't.. Relapsed into it has he?" he asked carefully from the petite woman who shook her head as an answer. As she kneeled down to lift the guitar, she explained the situation. "Dick's been very careful about it, avoiding anything that has to do with hallucinogens or the likes, the only thing similar to a drug that he takes are his migraine medication and even that is the type to render him simply unconscious for two days", she said as she handed the guitar to Marco so he could put the redhead's priced possession in the car, "He never takes it with alcohol, we both drink max two glasses of booze in a week". The man nodded as he kept thinking to himself where the Fire Tanks might've taken R to.

The White Beard group had taken interest in the man after they'd found him from an alley, clearly drugged out of his mind. A bit of investigation told them that the redhead had newly become an addict because he couldn't deal with his negative emotions, caused by the sudden loss of his parents, followed by the few months of mental abuse he'd suffered through in the "care" of his relatives. The kid had had the devil's luck finding a dealer that was willing to give him the stuff, and he hadn't hesitated even one second with the needles. White Beard himself had gone to the owner of the grey area diner owned by Zeff to talk about it as the boy was practically family to the man, and they'd agreed on the group getting rid of the relatives and helping the boy to rehabilitate.

Marco had become his doctor and at the time he was also working with C, who was recovering from alcoholism. He'd suggested the two to move together so they could help one another out and over time they'd grown to agree. The doctor made a point to check on them every few weeks.

But seeing how the younger man had been abducted…. He'd have to mention this to his boss and hopefully have a protection squad arranged.

Dick blinked in confusion as he stared at the face of the baby. It.. Had the face of a grown up. But it also was the face of an infant. But it was smoking a cigarette. But it was a pacifier. He honestly had no idea on how to feel about the thing, even less over the fact that he'd been practically carried into a living room or sort and put down on a sofa. So he was now seated on that sofa, his back straight as a stick, while he was wondering if he had eaten something funny tasting recently. Unnoticeably, the redhead pinched himself, masking it as a simple adjustificafion of his clothes, but his little test whether or not he was dreaming or drugged came out negative. Not that he'd be able to tell whether or not he'd been drugged other than by being able to think with a clear mind. Or alternatively he had managed to build mad tolerance for drugs.

He took a glance around the room, as secretly as he could, the cream coloured walls with dark wooden half panels and the matching floor not giving him any answers as to why he was there. The old looking furniture that matched with one another perfectly, making the atmosphere feel a bit threatening to him as the scent of cigar smoke and tea entered his nose. Dick played with the mouth of his sleeve, feeling the soft fabric, remembering Zeff's warm kindness, attempting to calm down enough to work things through in his mind. He couldn't afford to panic, he didn't know what kind of people he was amongst of. Oh how much he felt like crying again, this time from fear, but tears could mean death.

He didn't know these people. 

"This is my son Pez", the pink haired woman with strong makeup said as she cradled the…. baby…..? Dick kept staring, unable to find words to answer the woman. But the woman didn't seem to mind at all, in fact, she kept talking on her own, as if she'd been waiting for someone to talk to for a long time. "My husband told me that you had some worries about your love life darling", Chiffon, the wife of Bege Capone, stated as she eyed her silent (forced) visitor. The boy, she referred to the young man as such in her mind, flinched noticeably before averting his eyes. 

The first thing Chiffon had noticed in the boy was how he seemed to want to disappear there and then. Not wanting to be perceived by any of the hundred people in the room. As a response to this, she'd asked majority of them to leave, which had left the boy still be a nervous wreck, but at least he wasn't trying to fold into himself anymore. The second thing she'd noticed was the lifeless and dull eyes the boy had, filled with negative feelings. She recognised the look, she herself had been one to have it when she'd been freshly married to Bege. They were the eyes of an abuse survivor. She would need to ask for her husband to look into the boy's family life at the first possible second. 

The boy fidgeted uncomfortably on his seat, pale blush raising on his cheeks and ears. "It's.. Nothing, really, I never expected that anything would come out of it anyway taken how we both were….well… it doesn't matter", he said quietly, "I appreciate the sentiment though". 

Quite honestly, Chiffon was surprised to hear him talk at all. But it was a progress nevertheless. She smiled reassuringly.

"If you want to talk about it, I think you should, I won't judge", she said to the redhead, who was now staring at the wooden surface of the coffee table, "Or you could talk about what else bothers you, I don't mind listening to your worries".

Dicks eyes widened in surprise, he hadn't expected to be met with such friendliness taken how he'd been kidnapped. He finally looked up at the woman, into her eyes, and saw nothing but sympathy and kindness. 

Bege kept listening to the exchange between his wife and the boy. Deep down, he felt compelled to just adopt the kid and keep him close. But he wasn't sure what exactly caused that. Any other person with such a sappy story he would've shot on sight out of annoyance. He wasn't a patient man. But something in this one made him feel relaxed, yet overly protective of them, like he needed to stick close to them. And there really wasn't telling why. The boy was like a flower beckoning a bee closer and closer, or a tiger cub calling out to its mother. 

Back at the alley where the gangs were, all three of them had frozen on where they stood to observe the scene that folded before them; One of the commanders of the White Beard group, conversing with the girl. The quick to react Nico Robin of the Straw Hats was now eavesdropping to their conversation in order to gather information.

"It seems that the man we just saw be kidnapped has been in trouble over drug abuse before, and that blonde man is worried that he might've started to use them again", she relied the information to her leader, who nodded in understanding,"However, that girl seems to believe that her friend hasn't fallen for it". Luffy straightened his iconic straw hat as he kept his eyes on the concerned duo. He could tell right away that they were good people, but he didn't want to over complicate things by running there now. "The cook's broadcast did tell us quite a lot of his struggles in that band of his", his second in command, Zoro pointed out as he yawned. This mention didn't go unnoticed by Eustass, who was listening in, nor Law, who was also eavesdropping their eavesdropping. 

"What do you mean?" the red-haired fashion-icon-wanna-be demanded to know, prompting a long nosed man with curly hair to explain things. "Well, you see, R is apparently in love with another band member known as W, but that guy is only interested in women, he's also got a lot of stress from being the songwriter of the band and the band not telling him things and being always late, he honestly feels like a third wheel in the whole thing". A ginger haired woman picked up after the man's explanation. "He isn't sure on what to do with himself anymore nor what he should do to get out of that situation, his friend however is being very supportive" 

".... You don't think that I'm weird do you..?" Dick asked feeling ashamed of himself and what he'd just told the woman, tears once more threatening to break through. The woman shook her head as she pushed a cup of warm milk towards him. "You can't choose your emotions nor who they are directed at, so no, I don't think that you're weird in any way", she said as she watched how the obviously exhausted boy drank the milk before falling asleep where he was seated. His face looked like that of a porcelain doll's in the lamp light, but at least it was peaceful at long last. Chiffon could help but to think that the boy had gone through a lot of pain in his short life. 

The moment of peace however, came to halt when the notorious Marco the Phoenix entered the room, surprising the people present. He shouldn't have been able to do such feat, not when they were currently located in a fortress that was inside the body of her husband. And with the flaming pineapple, came a petite woman, who Chiffon was pretty sure that she'd seen before. 

"This young man is under the protection of White Beard and several other gangs, unhand him for your own safety or else you'll be disposed of", Marco said with a stern voice, staring at the people present with threatening look in his eyes. The gangsters present were stunned to hear him, and even more so that he managed to get inside. It took them a minute to even figure out what the hell was even happening while the young man the intruder had declared to be under the protection of one of the oldest gangs in existence was sleeping, undisturbed by the happenings around him.

"Dick isn't aware of being technically adopted by the gang leaders, he doesn't even know that there are gangs in this city", a feminine voice suddenly piped from near the sofa, catching Marco's attention. From his stern look and body language, one could easily tell that he wasn't amused by the girl's antics. His response of "I told you to wait in the car" cementing down this assumption even further. The girl laughed sheepishly while she gently brushed Dick's red hair away from his sleeping face. "And not get confirmation of the shape he is in immediately? No way José" 

What followed after was rather confused explanations about the situation along with Bege clearing things up. No, Dick hadn't bought any drugs from the Fire Tanks, the group didn't even touch those, and no, he wasn't indebted to them, their boss had just felt compelled to help the poor kid get whatever it was that was eating him on the inside. The doctor and the mafioso agreed to put their weapons aside and take the boy home, where he'd be left to rest and gather his strength.

"What I don't get is", Bege said as he blew out a ring of smoke, "Why didn't the kid go solo?". It was a valid question, though none of them had an explanation for it. Not even Cecilia despite the fact that she'd known the redhead for the majority of her life. There were always some things that stayed as a mystery to a person as their personalities and opinions changed as the time went by. And then there are things we like to hide of ourselves, negative feelings, positive feelings, fears, hopes, because we don't want other people to judge us.

Those who have been unjustly judged, tend to hide themselves with a lot more care than those who haven't gone through such pain. But what people often seem to forget, is that while pain has no method to be measured, there is a way to relate to it, despite of not knowing how it exactly feels like. If someone describes how a mental pain feels like as a physical one, someone is bound to be able to draw the parallel to the feeling and react accordingly. While someone who may not feel physical pain might be able to understand physical pain better when it is described to them as a mental one.

When Marco's car appeared once more into the view of the three small gangs, none of them made an effort to move a muscle in favour of observing the happenings. Few of them had heard rumours of a house that resided on the Grey Dot that was being watched over by the gangs that had their territories intersect there, all three of them had managed to cut themselves a sliver of those turfs themselves; Luffy from Big Mom, Eustass from Miss Bakkin and Law from Doflamingo, but when they'd attempted to move forward with their plans of taking over more territory, they were told to leave a certain house alone. 

Not that they'd even gotten close to the said house as White Beard, Benn Beckman, Dracule Mihawk and Zeff had all stood there to protect it. They'd pretty quickly let it be. Other people whose turfs were close to it were Big Mom, Black Beard and Kaidou, who all had tried to march over the line at one point, yet stopped for unknown reasons. Eustass felt like he was starting to understand why the house was under the protection of all those people, even more so when he happened to see Charlotte Katakuri walk towards the car with a large basket, before ducking to talk to Marco. The way the large man carefully took the obviously unconscious redhead out of the car and shielded him from the cold rain told more than enough to the leader of the Kids even more so when he waited patiently for the small woman to hurry inside the house to open up a large window, through which the man slid the notably smaller man inside.

It didn't take long for the other usual suspects to arrive either.

One after another, the petite woman with light brown hair accepted the gift baskets from the people, thanking each of them, allowing them indoors, and Eustass couldn't help but to wonder what they were giving to the duo. None of them seemed to be the type to worry over someone else. 

When the people disappeared, Eustass made his move, not caring how Law and Luffy had stayed behind to observe them, Nico Robin no doubt having her eyes and ears already inside the building. The goth man slid inside with ease, seeing how the door was left unlocked. He didn't get to see either one of the duo awake however, as both of them had managed to get into their beds one way or another. His eyes scanned over the items, seeing very mundane things in the baskets. Some had fruits, some had sweets, some had clothes and some had books, it looked more like care packages sent by family members who were trying to coordinate presents. 

His eyes caught a white magnet board with the words of "Days without relapse" and a respectful amount of days written under both letters that no doubt represented the inhabitants of the house. He also noticed the two cups that sat in the sink, clearly waiting for wash. The other one had traces of a red liquid on the bottom, it seemed that it had dried and turned sticky, a juice perhaps. The other one had light brown liquid at the bottom of it, it could've been either coffee or chocolate. Other than that, it was a normal kitchen.

The man sat down to wait. 

The twilight that was already breaking through painted the room with its light, revealing the doodles that were on the door of the fridge. Eustass "Captain" Kid, would sit there for the next few hours, eager to meet the mysterious woman and the broken hearted singer. He himself was sleepy to the point where he could barely keep his eyes open, yet he didn't really feel like falling asleep. There were so many things he needed to ask and learn. 

He jerked back awake when he heard the sound of porcelain, followed by the sound of boiling water. A cup of black coffee appeared to manifest in front of him, making the pointy haired man be fully awake. The girl had seated herself opposite of him and was now sipping something nonchalantly from her cup. The two kept staring one another without blinking, as if challenging the other to speak first and introduce themselves. The air felt dense enough to be cut with a knife. Eustass felt like he'd lose something if he were to be the one who spoke first, so he didn't bother even commenting the fact that the girl had a cute cup that looked like one of those things you can get from McDonald's with kids meal while he himself had a boring white cup. 

The cup she had was shaped like a head of a cow, Eustass didn't recognise the character, but he was sure that it was from the McDonald's that had been closed few years prior due to a scandal. The atmosphere became more and more awkward to both of them. Now they were just praying that the other one would say SOMETHING so they didn't need to worry about being the conversation starter.

"Oh, you had a friend come over?" both of them snapped their heads to look towards the voice. The red-haired singer, R, had changed his clothes into another softly coloured set, his hair now being held away from his face by a black headband. He took out another funky head cup, this one looking like a black dog or sort, but it had a smaller face and long ears. "By the way, there was a basket outside the door again, we have some super nice neighbours don't we", the man said as he poured some of the boiling water into his cup. From the smell of it, he was making a cappuccino out of instant powder.

"Aa, yeah, I think that a new one moved on the area recently. By the way this is Eustass Kidd", the woman suddenly said, making the addressed man raise his nonexistent brow. The man sat down with his cappuccino and smiled gently.

"I am Richard, friends call me Dick, nice to meet you Eustass. It's rare for either Cecilia or me to bring friends over, so please pardon the shape our apartment is in currently". 


	2. Serial Killer Survivors AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The survivors of a serial killer Doflamingo Donquixote have their group therapy session where they talk about their experiences. During this meeting, they're finally revealing what they experienced.
> 
> Warnings:  
> Mentions of death, murder attempts, drowning, body mutilation, amputation, drug abuse
> 
> AU type: Modern/Criminal investigation

"It's a quiet evening in the city that was now dyed in the eye burning neon and autumn colours. From the way the streets were filled with people, one wouldn't have guessed that a week ago, it was being terrorised by a serial killer, who targeted parties, intending to kill out everyone. Of course, for a hard boiled detective, like myself, these things come and go constantly. Death is an old friend of mine, always present, sometimes gentle, often cruel", detective Rocinante Donquixote thought to himself, no doubt thinking that he looked cool as he stood in the centre of the wooden floor of the room. In reality he looked like he needed an adult as he managed to accidentally set himself on fire. As his eyes peered from behind the dark sunglasses, he couldn't help but to feel grim. 

"The support group for the victims and targets of the serial killer is going to gather today", he mumbled to himself as he reached into his pocket to pull out a notebook, "The sole survivors of the five massacres… And the final mistake of the monster I used to call my brother". As the detective mumbled to himself in the bar that had been emptied for this purpose by the sympathetic owner, Zeff, who'd lost couple of his own in the said massacre, the first person stepped in, her long strawberry blonde hair was left free, an empty gaze in her blue eyes cementing in the fact that she'd indeed witnessed horrors beyond one's comprehension.

" _Cecilia Bones, survivor of the first massacre, she was found hiding in a cupboard, shaking like a leaf. Nobody knows where she's staying now, not even us, the police, were capable of tracking her down_."

Followed by the woman was a blonde man with scars on his face, he seemed relaxed, yet confused, dressed in expensive looking clothes and using a cane to help him move forward. The detective watched how he stepped inside, greeted the woman, and took a seat in a chair that had its back on the wall, where he could see all entrances.

" _Sabo Belmont, survivor of the second massacre. He was found laying on the floor, barely breathing. That was what saved him, the killer thinking that he'd died thanks to the blood of his friends reaching his limp body. He seems to have amnesia_."

A duo of dark haired men walked in, one with a scar under his left eye, one with freckles. The two young men were quick to walk up to the blonde man and sit by him, both on opposite sides. The trio seemed to relax in each others' presence.

" _Monkey D. Luffy and Portgas D. Ace, survivors of third massacre, Luffy happened to be grounded by my superior, his grandfather, Monkey D. Garp. Ace walked to the police station, soaked in water, and looking pale, reporting the crime_ ". 

A red haired man walked in, holding onto his left arm, which was just a stump. Rocinante winced as the man was one of the few who supported visible loss. Behind the red head, was a blonde man wearing a mask, who was clearly there to show support to the man.

" _Eustass Kidd, fourth massacre survivor, the report states that he had crawled into a hole upon being wounded and the serial killer hadn't bothered to follow him, clearly expecting him to bleed out. His best friend was the one to seek him out and take him to the hospital upon receiving a message_."

The oldest person of the group showed up, his hat shadowing his eyes. The man took a moment to take in his environment, before he, too, took a seat, next to the red head, who scowled at him.

" _Trafalgar Law, survivor of the fifth massacre, and only because he is a surgeon at the ER himself. He was capable of putting himself back together, keeping himself together until help arrived_."

The door opened for the last time, and a red haired man stepped inside. His face looked haunted, his eyes were empty and head hung low. The young man refused to look up, silently walking to the last seat available, that happened to be between Law and Cecilia, completing the circle.

" _Richard Calico, also known as the final girl in the files. The killer suddenly changed his way of doing things and targeted him specifically, which was his greatest mistake. The one to lose his life was the killer himself_."

Cecilia, "C", watched how the group gathered once more, this was their sixth meeting after the threat of the serial killer was gone. This time, they were expected to talk, to tell the whole story. When the final person arrived, she wondered if the man would today stay silent once more. Even though the redhead had been the one to put an end to the horror that had been Doflamingo Donquixote, the crazed richman, he acted like he'd done something far worse than the killer had. Not even once, had the man said a word, nor raised his head to look at them. It was almost like he was ashamed of being there. C hadn't seen the man's face properly, but from the photos, she could tell that the man had a kind face.

She looked down at the carpet, being ready to tell what had happened that day. And this time, there was a police officer to hear it. The young woman took a deep breath.

"I was invited to the party by my friend. Well… She was more of an acquaintance than a friend, but I'd known her for a long time…."

Cecilia stated at the front door, her heart beating fast in her chest. She had a bad feeling about her decision, but she ignored it as just nervousness. As the door opened, she was quickly welcomed by Della, one of the people she'd known since elementary. The duo walked into the living room, where the lights were off, and music was being blasted at max volume. Personally, she would've preferred a more quiet place, but a party meant free food and drinks, so she'd agreed to come.

She stood there for about an hour before she excused herself and went to the restroom. While there, she started to hear screaming and running steps, which made her panic. It sounded a lot like something bad was happening. It reminded her of those horror movies, especially the slashers, that she'd been watching in secret as a tween. From the sounds of it, the killing was taking place upstairs, so she tried to leave the restroom as quickly and quietly as possible.

She managed to creep into the kitchen when she heard footsteps coming from the hallway. Without thinking, she crawled into the first hiding place she knew to be empty. Which just so happened to be a tiny cupboard that not a single person would usually fit into. And just when she managed to close the door, the footsteps made their way into the kitchen.

C listened in absolute terror how the person, this beast, walked up to the cupboards that were above the sink and took out a glass. She held her breath as the monster poured itself a cup of something, humming a tune as it did so. At some point, the girl remembered to breathe again, and at that point, the monster was no doubt getting rid of the evidence that'd point to it ever having been there. And for several hours, she wouldn't move a muscle.

"It was so dark and scary in that cupboard, I could hear everything that was happening. I don't know why or how, but he never came looking for me. I guess that he didn't know that I was there. I could also smell things. Like the blood. And I wanted to throw up so badly, but I just couldn't. I don't know how long I was there, but at some point, the police arrived and found me", C said as she stared at the carpet without really seeing it, she was too far gone into her memory of the evening, "After the police checked that I was in one piece, I kinda just circled around the town until I ended up at Pops' ". 

C saw Ace perk up at the mention of the familiar nickname, but she kept on going with her story, "Ma and pa told me when I was wee baby that if I ever ended up in a scary situation, I'd need to look for Pops, I've been staying with him ever since". She closed her eyes as she fell silent.

The silence enveloped the room like a heavy blanket, Rocinante scribbled onto his notes furiously what he'd just heard. These things weren't in the files. There were details that were missing, details that the woman had just filled in. Like the glass and how obviously Doffy had been celebrating the occasion. 

Sabo glanced at Cecilia and sighed. Slowly, his hand went above his head as he removed his top hat, closing his eyes earnestly. The blonde took in couple of deep breaths, to calm himself before starting his own story.

"I can't really remember that many details but, I know that I was invited to a housewarming party", he started with a concentration written on his face as he tried to remember the best he could muster.

Sabo glanced at his clock nervously, he didn't want to be late, and honestly it did make him slightly scared to know that there was a madman loose in the city. However, that incident had happened on the far side, almost outside of it, so it could be that the person only worked on that specific area. He raised his gloved hand, knocking on the door lightly.

Waiting outside, the young man could hear hurried footsteps on the other side of the door. Soon enough, his friend opened the door, greeting him with enthusiasm. "Sabo! You made it!", Sabo smiled shyly as an answer, before stepping inside, offering the wrapped housewarming gift to the other man. "I remembered that you mentioned missing few key items so I got you these", he said feeling a bit embarrassed by his simplistic present. However, his friend's face lit up in delight as he took a good look at the teabell and couple of measuring spoons that were uncovered. "Oh these are amazing! Thank you!" 

The two moved on to the kitchen where other people were gathered. Sabo only knew few of them by name, the rest being total strangers to him. The doorbell rang prompting his friend to go get the door.

"I don't really remember much after that, just sharp burning pain on my face, me scrambling for water so I could make it end and then darkness. I woke up in the hospital later and I stayed there for several days, maybe even weeks, later on I found out that Dragon had been patrolling the hospital area frequently to keep me safe."

Ace stared at his brother quietly, he didn't really want to say much, he did understand how horrendous such burdening memories could be, especially for someone as kind and empathetic as Sabo. He then glanced at his younger brother, Luffy, who also was one of the lucky few, while not being one at all.

The raven brushed his hair away from his freckled face and started on his own story, "So, for me, this whole situation was kind of weird. I had two people be after me instead of just one psychopath."

Ace rolled his eyes in the living room where everyone had gathered, not really wanting to be there at all. He'd only showed up because he didn't want to be impolite. The rest of the guests were already drunk or at least a little tipsy, only a handful of people being sober. Ace was one of the sober ones much to his own displeasure, that's what you get for being a high tolerance drinker in a party where the highest percentage drink was a regular cider.

Idly wondering if it was okay for him to leave, Ace excused himself to take a stroll at the yard, to look at the garden and so forth.

What he didn't expect was to be tailed by another guest, who had an agenda of his own.

At the swimming pool, its general existence made Ace snort, this guy really had the nerve to build one of the most useless and bacteria infested things onto his backyard, the raven found himself to be attacked by another raven, who happened to have an annoying laugh and a gap between his teeth. Because the assaulter was larger than he was, Ace found himself to be overpowered, his head being forced underwater by the tipsy, notably larger man. After a brief moment where his head was above the water, Ace took a deep breath before he was lunged under it once more, this time with him holding his breath.

Forcing himself to relax, Ace waited for the person to let go of him, which happened quite soon. From the way his body was tossed into the pool, Ace guessed that the man had declared him to be dead, what an idiot, and just tossed him in so it'd seem like he'd drowned. The raven moved his head slightly to take a quick glance at the house, and seeing the back of his attacker getting smaller and smaller, he planned to wait it out just a little longer before he'd bolt.

And then he noticed the shadowy figure that was coming towards him and he had to pretend to be dead again.

"I waited for so long in that pool, the guy even came there to check if I was still there couple of times, so I couldn't just up and leave before he'd gone. After that I walked to the station and reported what had happened", after a short pause he continued, "I don't recall seeing Teach's body there, so I'm assuming that he got away and went underground thinking that he'd killed me. I actually knew about the serial killer thanks to pops giving me a heads up and advising me to play dead if he'd end up crashing the party. I think that it was thanks to C that he knew to warn me."

Ace looked at Luffy expectively, knowing that he would've also been at that fateful party had it not been for Garp's interference.

Luffy caught Ace's eye, and knowing that he was expected to tell about own experience, he too started to explain things. "My story is a lot shorter than everyone else's here, I was supposed to be at the same party as Ace, but gramps grounded me. But I did have a direct video feed about what was happening thanks to a friend", Luffy grew silent, "it was bad, I saw how the person walked in, wearing a mask and just started to chop them into pieces, most of them couldn't even fight back or move because of being wasted. When he noticed the phone, I just closed the call in panic, but I think that he knew that I'd seen him."

Luffy looked down, teary eyed as he was still struggling with coming in terms with it all. "Since I didn't see Ace, I assumed that he'd been done in too, it was so scary, I couldn't do anything but watch. It was so much blood, so much death." 

C awkwardly patted the slightly older man's shoulder, she wasn't entirely sure of what she should do to comfort him, Luffy was a stranger to her after all. Out of all of them, it seemed like Luffy might've had it worst, helplessly being forced to witness so much needless death as people he probably knew were being murdered mercilessly. 

Eustass stared at the others for a good while trying to put things together, from the looks of it, the serial killer had been a bit of an idiot or at least sloppy. He then also decided to drop the act and just honestly tell about his own experience with the murderer.

"With the party I was in… Well first of all it was my party, in my home. And I invited bunch of people I knew, and it all was nice and good for about two hours"

They had finally started to relax, it did seem like they were safe from the party slasher, so naturally Eustass had suggested a nice movie and some snacks. Another hour passed with that cozy atmosphere when it was taken away. It started with the sound of a chainsaw that seemed to be coming from the movie at the wrong time. Eustass' brows furrowed in confusion as he tried to check if the streaming site was having problems. And then the wall got a human sized hole to it.

Before the redhead could even react, one of his guests had lost their head and was now bleeding blood onto his couch. By the time he was capable of moving, the second guest was beheaded. The chainsaw came towards him and automatically the man raised him hand to block it, only to have his arm be sawed off. Eustass yelled in pain and stepped away, his left arm making a loud thumping sound as it fell on the floor uselessly.

Without turning away from the murderer, who was now chasing after another guest, the man started to make his way to some place else. A safer place.

But first. 

He had to make the bleeding stop or he'd be a goner.

Rushing into the kitchen, the man put the stove on and waited, then he took a pan, which he put on the said stove, allowing it to heat up as well. And then… 

He pressed the thing into the fresh wound, burning the flesh and forcing the blood flow to stop. The scent of the burning flesh almost made him vomit, the pain making his legs feel weak, but the man was hell bent on surviving.

Dragging his feet forward, he made it to the cellar door.

Opening it as quietly as he could, the redhead entered the staircase, not even bothering to put the lights on, closing the door after him. The air was damp and it smelled old, the young man made his way down to the storage room,which had a tiny window. There, he took out his cellphone and typed a quick message to his best friend, who'd been unable to come to the party because of work, telling where he was and what had happened. He also asked him to call the police in his stead because he didn't want to alert the attacker.

Eustass moved away from the window, hiding deeper into the shadows and turning his phone on silent, waiting for either his friend or to death claim him.

"Luckily it was Killer who found me and not the psycho, but my hand couldn't be reattached anymore after me burning the stump. I'm now waiting for my custom arm to be made and the stump to heal so it can be attached", Eustass ended his story, gesturing behind him towards the masked man, who nodded. 

Law looked at this exchange, part of him wanting to scream, while the other part wanted to examine the wound on the arm stump to see how it was healing. Looking around the faces of the survivors, he could tell that all of them were traumatised to a degree; all of them were a lot quieter than they'd normally be, the change being the most drastic in Luffy and Eustass, who were known for being loud. While the support group did help them all a little, they'd still need to get therapy, similar experiences or not, they were individuals who needed specific type of attention as well. 

"I had been called to the party I was in for an emergency, a simple accident, but when I got there… It was too late and there were bodies and body parts everywhere, not to mention blood. Doctor's nightmare. And since the person knew that I'd be coming, he waited. And when I did show… he attacked", Law didn't go into details, there was no need to since he had only been called later, and then he'd been attacked. "He'd switched his weapon by then, it wasn't a chainsaw but a machete, and he decided that it'd be ah… funny to slash me. And when I fell on the floor, he just left without confirming the kill. So I can't really say whether or not sparing people was his style or if it was just being sloppy", the raven said as his hand lightly touched his chest, where under all of his clothes and the bandages lied stitches, "I had enough equipment with me to prolong my own life until help arrived and I have to say… disinfecting my own wounds, deep one's at that, and stitching myself back together is one of my least favourite things". 

The room fell silent once more, this time being complete one, without the sound of pencil moving against paper. Several pairs of eyes turned on the last person in the circle, the one who had never said a word during their previous meetings. 

To Law, this man didn't seem the type that'd be capable of outwitting and killing off the killer that hadn't been even figured out by the police, and yet… He was. This completely closed off person, who was trying to make himself as small as possible, with the face that looked like it was about to cry at any second now, whose eyes were avoiding everyone. He only knew the man's name thanks to the police.

After what felt like an eternity, the man took a shaky breath.

It was as if he was about to say something, but as quickly as the moment came, it was gone.

Minutes moved forward, dragging on slowly like a slug in tar. Some people were getting antsy, some were clearly annoyed, some were curious.

Richard knew that he'd have to talk, but it didn't feel like he had the right to. Unlike the others, he hadn't fought to survive, not in the same way. He wanted to be sent in jail for killing the man, his guilt eating on his conscience. But… Since the police was there…

"I don't know what drove him to change his methods, nor do I know why he chose to target me specifically", he finally started, not noticing the surprised looks of the others as they finally heard him, though he did speak quietly. 

The phone rang in his pocket couple of times, before it was picked up and answered by the redhead, who out of habit said only his last name. He wasn't really expecting a call, there weren't that many people who'd care enough to call him. To his surprise and shock, he heard a voice he'd never heard before ask a simple question. "Are you alone?" the next thing that happened was the lights going out, but Richard refused to panic. He calmly walked into the small storage and picked up the first weapon-like thing he could find. Waiting by the front door, the only door, he heard the lock be tampered with and took a deep breath.

He'd planned to simply knock the attacker out, but instead he ended up killing him with an axe to his neck.

"I didn't realise that I'd picked up an axe, I thought that it was a baseball bat. But I killed him, and I'm terrified", his voice was hoarse and voice only a whisper. But his story didn't quite satisfy one of the people present. 

Eustass Kidd wasn't too smart of a person, but he did have great perception of people, being able to swiftly put together things and to see how things really were. Something about the way it was told just didn't add up. Sure, the guy seemed to be shaken by the fact that he'd killed a person, but there were too many holes in the story.

"How were you able to stay calm like that? And why would you have anything like that in your home? Why would your first instinct be to knock someone unconscious?!" he demanded an answer, but the other redhead immediately closed off again, his eyes growing distant and empty. He was clearly hiding something.

Richard didn't want to say anything else, he was growing more and more uncomfortable, but he was also irritated by the fact that the other man was now yelling at him. Why was he the only one to be questioned? It wasn't fair!

Rocinante watched how Eustass continuously demanded answers from Richard, who was most definitely not okay with these questions. But he couldn't for the death of him figure out what was missing either. The smaller man was visibly trying to make himself even smaller, though it was in vain, is eyes filled with a new kind of emotion than shame. Fear. As the hot-headed one armed man kept yelling, one could see clearly that the other one was having a bad reaction to it, visibly shaking on his seat.

C looked at the final person who'd arrived, if her memory served her right, his name was Richard. How he was cornered by the tallest person of them, being yelled and snarled at, and she truly felt for the man and his terror. 

Then, something seemed to snap within the man.

"I'm sorry. I didn't ask to be a target, I didn't ask to be attacked, I didn't ask to be treated like a prey I DIDN'T ASK TO BE A VICTIM AND I DIDN'T ASK TO BE THE PERSON TO KILL HIM I DIDN'T WANT TO KILL HIM I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!" the man yelled back, suddenly raising from his seat, teeth bared and eyes narrow as he was suddenly filled with anger, "ALL I KNEW WAS THAT I WAS GOING TO BE KILLED OR WORSE AND I DIDN'T WANT TO GO THROUGH IT AGAIN! I ALREADY HAD TO LIVE MY ENTIRE LIFE IN FEAR OF A DRUG ADDICT WHO I'D MANAGED YO BARELY ESCAPE AND-".

Richard fell back on his seat, panting, eyes cascading with tears and voice hoarse. "I didn't want to, I don't. I don't deserve to be here, I killed someone, I should be arrested, I should be in jail, I shouldn't be alive, shouldn't have lived".

Rocinante's notepad fell on the floor from the shock, he hadn't expected to see something like this. To hear about a crime that hadn't been reported for seemingly years and see the clear victim of it feel guilty. The final girl stood up again, but this time silent and eyes distant. He didn't say anything, but it was clear what he wanted. Those exhausted and empty eyes staring at Rocinante expectively. The inspector stared at the witness, his mind telling him that to spare the younger man from this torture he was subjecting himself to was to arrest him, but at the same time he knew that it wouldn't actually change anything.

"You're seen as a hero for stopping him", he said carefully, his own grey eyes meeting the bright yellow ones that hardened upon hearing those words. "I am not deserving of such title, a homicide is a homicide, no matter the circumstances", Rocinante sighed and gestured at the bar owner for another chair. When he took a seat, his eyes could finally meet the other man on the same level. He lit up a cigarette, this time without setting himself on fire. "I'm telling you that it's okay, if you hadn't done it, I would've. I knew the man you killed personally, or at least I used to know him. You see…", he blew out a cloud of smoke, a peaceful, sympathetic smile settling onto his face, "he was my brother".

The group stared at the blonde in shocked silence, surely he wouldn't be allowed on the case if this was the truth? But the heavy silence spoke for itself.

"Last time I saw him, we were just kids. But even then, he was far from being a good person", the policeman said as he slowly took out his wallet, and from within that, he fished out an old photograph of a family of five; a man, a woman and three children. The man gave the photo to the red haired man so he could take a good look at it. "When I was eight or so, both our mother and little sister passed away in an accident. My brother blamed our father for it and then the incident happened. We both were taken by a bunch of criminals, and our father came to the rescue."

A grim look passed the man's face as he remembered what had followed.

"Doffy shot him in the head. Our own father. And disappeared. I was found by chief Sengoku, who adopted me, and I became a cop. When the killings started, I knew that it had to be Doflamingo, and I swore that I'd make him stop", Rocinante dumped the cigarette into an ashtray, slowly pulling his messy hair back, revealing a softer looking, yet masculine, face and the most serious eyes Richard had ever seen. "I am Rocinante Donquixote, younger brother of Doflamingo Donquixote. And I'm telling you that it's okay, you did what had to be done, Calico, you had no choice.

The rest of the meeting went without any issues, it seemed that the revelations had calmed down the people who had been questioning things and how creditable they were.

Rocinante watched how the group dispatched and the bar was cleaned up. When the final person had disappeared from view, he looked down onto his notes grimly. He'd need to do a full background check on all people who'd been present, there were things that needed to be set right. The blonde sighed as he started to walk towards the station, he'd need to write a full report on this ASAP.

And he hated writing those. 


	3. Monster Allergy AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A kind of a crossover between a comic/animated series called Monster Allergy.
> 
> R and C work for the Union, which is in charge of capturing monsters that cause havoc in the city. One day, their team gets a new member.
> 
> Characters: Luffy, Usopp, Zoro, Sanji, Eustass Kid, Law, Bepo, Marco, Thatch, Brulee, Katakuri  
> OCs: K, S, Susan, R, C, Bonny

To R, things rarely seemed to be out of ordinary, no matter how unordinary they were. The man would have to deal with his housemates who never paid rent, caused havoc and kept chewing on his shoes like dogs, forcing him to buy an extra pair just for that one roommate.

He could go a full day, allowing himself to overlook odd details nobody would leave alone without a pointed state. But don't get it twisted, he did step in if the weirdness was causing trouble to the people around him.

Weekly, he'd make a lap around his small town, checking every nook and cranny for suspicious activities, preventing disasters before they'd even taken place, before he'd resume to his self isolation from the rest of the humanity and throw the newly destroyed shoes of his to his roommate, who'd start chewing on them happily.

Life was lonely for a monster tamer.

Oh? Didn't I mention it before? Well.. Now you know.

Richard "Dick" (or R as his agent code called him) Calico was a fifth generation monster tamer, he too being born cursed with the all seeing eye. This gene however, had only made itself known in his mother's bloodline, him being the first man since the great grandmother's father, who'd only fathered daughters. Sadly him inheriting this trait, which allowed him to see the world that is hidden from the human eye, made his childhood rather hard before he'd learned to censor himself. As he'd reached the age of fifteen, he'd merely claimed that he had an overly active imagination as a child and everything had been left there.

But the years of torment had already made its impact on his psyche, turning him into a people resenting person, who preferred solitude and peace over seeing anyone else. The only exception had been the agency his mother had made him join, which later on had become his full-time job. There, he'd also met his partner, C, a researcher of the monsters, whose primary job was to analyse and record monsters and their behaviour to give them a better understanding of them. She too had the all seeing eyes, but she didn't yet show signs of being a tamer. Then again, she was only 18 years of age and had been rather sheltered by her adoptive fathers Marco and Thatch.

Dick sighed as he sent the details of the monster he'd just captured into a special container to his partner, who was quick to answer. He'd be soon given an order to go to the headquarters and give a tour for the newbies who'd just been recruited. These newbies consisted of Agent L, who was transferring from a larger city due to the rise of the monster activity in the town, and Agent E, a former gang leader. There was also supposed to be a third person, who'd been referred to as Mr Prince, but the man's moving into the town has been delayed by a month due to him not approving any of the houses he'd been offered.

Dick tossed the container in the air absentmindedly, to any other person it'd look like one of those snow globe things. He on the other hand could see the angry face of the monster snarl at him.

"Oh! You were the one to capture that guy! I was wondering where he'd gone to! Such an annoying thing he was", the voice next to him made him freeze mid throw. Robotically, the red head turned towards the source, his face unreadable. There, on the vacant property, stood a teenager with black hair and a straw hat. The boy grinned at him, Dick now noticing the scar under his left eye. "Did you also beat him up like he deserved?"

Speechless, Dick raised the container up on the eye level of the teen, his free hand pointing at it. "You can see this?", "? Yeah? It's a green and beige slime guy from that side road nobody goes to". 

The red head gave a pointed stare towards the teen, who he knew not to be a local. It was part of his job to know who everyone was and to investigate everything that seemed even slightly suspicious. Or… disappeared. He'd learned early on that humans were more disgusting than monsters, and the latter had unusual habits like eating shoes for Pete's sake. The amount of deaths of animals and humans that were caused by monsters was a lot lower than the amount of human caused ones, which one could call disturbing. The low death rates in the town were the cause of the rise in the amount of move-ins. However, this also had led to a rise in homicidal residents as these fools thought that the low crime rate city would make it the perfect hunting ground. 

As if the Union would allow that.

The man brought his black gloved left hand to his ear, eyes steady on the kid, who was still staring at him.

"Agent R to the Headquarters, I have here a kid, who can apparently see monsters as well, recommended course of action?" he said with an even, unwavering voice, nothing in his stance would betray him. While he appeared to be calm and collected, yet curious of the kid, on the outside, he was very much screaming on the inside. "Do you happen to see their parents anywhere near?" the voice of his D answered from the other end of the line. Dick took a quick glance, but only saw a couple of only slightly older people, or at least more mature ones, moving furniture into the house. The redhead groaned internally. "Negative. But he does have roommates. One of them looks eerily similar to the photo of Mr Prince". 

The teen tilted his head, trying to see the thing the older man was talking into, but ended up seeing nothing. But that didn't stop him from wanting to befriend his neighbour.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy! Nice to meet you!" he said offering his hand to the man, who only stared at him in response. The duo kept at it for quite some time, enough for a long nosed teenager to loiter closer to them, all the while Luffy was still holding his hand up for a shake.

R stared at the hand a sense of deja vu settling into his being. The shadow cast by a cloud surfed over them, slowly, yet sure, like clouds tend to do. Wind was picking up, and the man could smell the rain that would fall soon. He heard the sound of the town, the humming in the air, the low rumbling of the cars, the high pitched screech or motorcycles, the faint echo of birds who'd forgotten how to sing long ago, mixed with the sounds of monsters hidden from the prying eyes, the breath of life.

It wasn't natural born life though, not for Dick. He'd moved into the town from the outside, the country side. So while he could see that there was life in the cities, it all felt artificial to him. Instead of the scent of the forest and earth there was the bitter and sharp scent of gasoline, burning rubber and smoke. It was always present no matter where you went. Instead of the starlight and the moon, the streets were lit by the angry neon that pierced your eyes. There were no sounds of life either; no bird would ever sing and be heard, no sound of leafs rustling in the wind, no sound of animals in the distance. Even laughter and speech of humans drowned neath all that wasn't really alive.

The man took in his surroundings once more, tasting the polluted air that he no longer even noticed like he once used to, hearing the noise that he was growing numb to, feeling his eyes ache from the way light reflected from everything. Humans were like moths, they were afraid of the dark. And so they build themselves lanterns that'll keep everything around them bright.

He finally looked at Luffy, who was still waiting for his answer.

Sighing, he gave his answer as he knew, that would he not give out one, the child would never leave him alone. 

"Richard Calico. Though I doubt that you'll see me that often, I am a busy man", the familiar car of his coworker stopped at his drive way, "And it appears that work calls for me".

"You did what? Dick! That's just rude!" C scolded the redhead as the man stood patiently next to her desk, monster container in hand. Once the girl was done with her outburst, the agent placed the thing on the table, a small clink coming out as the diamond made a contact with the wooden surface. The Union had learned the hard way that the only thing that was hard enough to contain certain monsters was diamond, and even that wasn't fool proof. The containers needed to be swapped ever so often as the constant pressure from the inside would eventually weaken them enough for an outbreak.

"Can you catalog this one? T told me that you need more practice on identifying and cataloging the entities", Dick said as the young woman plopped back into her chair. She ran her hand through the long locks of strawberry blonde hair, frustrated sigh escaping from her lips. "Why do you keep pushing people away like that Dick? Just what are you afraid of?" the man answered with a stern stare directed at his partner, who threw her hands up in the air, "Right, right I forgot! You're a monster tamer, which makes you a danger to the society so you must work in the shadows blah blah blah just give up on that Batman angst already. You're a human too and deserve to find someone who'd love and cherish you!". 

R waited patiently for C to do the task she'd been assigned to, her fingers tapping on the keyboard as the late teen kept muttering to herself about stubborn men. He knew that it was stupid of him to isolate himself, but he was too scared to let anyone in now. Last time he'd allowed that, the person had turned out to be a monster planning world domination. The redhead kept waiting for the procedure to be over so he and his partner could move to the patrol, and through that go to their usual place and order food.

"You're rubbing your right wrist again, does it still ache?", "No… It's just a habit at this point"

C finished up with the cataloging, turning back to the other agent, who'd become like an older brother to her over the course of their partnership. She'd taken the time to learn how the man communicated things through, his habits, so she'd be able to understand him better. Her second adoptive father, Marco, had been in charge of training the boy, and he'd been there since the very beginning, noting how the redhead was on the loner side and clearly kept pushing everyone away from him for reasons unknown.

Calicos had been part of the union for couple of generations, the man's mother even now consulting them and giving out information on how things worked. They were one of the older families that had dedicated themselves to the monster taming, generation after generation, and the majority of them were on the more introverted side of things. Richard had taken that to a whole different level though.

The man barely talked to anyone in the Union, the longest conversation being with his own mother about philosophy, Marco had soon enough asked his boss known as WB if they could hire C to become his work partner and help him to come out of his shell. They'd assumed that R was like that because of being nervous around people who were twice of his age.

It had turned out that he was like that towards everyone.

It was as if he was expecting himself to drop dead at any second.

At first, C had just assumed that he was just shy, then she'd come to the conclusion that he was a prick, before she'd understood that the man was just afraid. Afraid of himself, his abilities and other people. Most of his habits seemed to be him trying to calm himself and nothing else. Or because of him being anxious.

"Is it okay if a third wheel tags along? It's the other new agent since he's going to be working in our team for a couple of weeks at first", R flinched visibly, but was quick to fix his posture. C watched how he painted a happy go lucky smile on his face and she felt her heart drop. The higher-ups hadn't notified him of the new team mate. He was the last one to know. "Ahahaha, sure thing!"

Nearby the duo, one Trafalgar Law, also known as Agent L, was in a rather interesting position. You see, he'd been unpacking his equipment, when he'd heard the voice of an older woman complain with a loud voice about another agent. "I just can't stand him! He refuses to talk to anyone and never smiles, he's so depressing to have around! Why does the union even keep him?" the purple haired woman whined into the phone from which Law could hear a calm male voice answer. Though he could only make out brief words, something about usefulness.

It honestly made the doctor feel a bit sick, but the complaints about this agent R also worried him a little. These words painted an image of an uncaring man, who only cared about the mission alone and was ready to sacrifice anything for the sake of it. He moved his gaze towards the desk opposite of his. It was the neatest work desk he'd ever seen and it made him wonder if it was even ever used. His eyes washed over the table, unable to find any personal objects that'd tell him more about the owner. Thatch had told him earlier that the desk belonged to his team member known as Agent R, but nobody had been able to tell him anything about the man. Nothing personal that was.

From the looks of it, the younger man had joined them at the age of sixteen because of his mother and he'd proven himself to be a skilled field agent.

"But then again.. He is from _that_ family", had one of the agents said mysteriously, everyone else around them simply nodding. Nothing had been explained.

Law kept observing the table, it's neat and well organised surface, the almost clear of any kind of personality stationery on it. Some of the items seemed like they didn't really match though, like the pastel pink pencils and cute childlike erasers that were neatly in a separate container. It seemed like they were given to the apparently stoic and silent man by his work partner. To the annoyance of the man, there were literally nothing else for him to concentrate on. Not a single personal item, no leftovers, no unfinished reports, no scattered papers, nothing. It was almost as if the table had never been used or belonged to a recently deceased person, vacant and waiting to be completely stripped off of the remaining items that the person had left behind. It actually creeped him out a little.

"Agent L? We need to move out to the nearby shopping centre, there's a monster on a rampage", a baritone suddenly said from his left, making Law to come back from his thoughts. He spared a glance, but was stopped on his tracks when his eyes landed on the person speaking.

It was the red-haired man, R, and now that he was facing Law, he could easily understand what had made people choose him as the one they complained about. It was the eyes. Yellow and catlike, with slit pupils that seemed to be uninterested in the world around him. Cold and emotionless expression on his face, and unblinking stare. Next to the male. Stood a teenager with strawberry blonde hair and royal blue eyes, she seemed to be excited for something. "This will be C's first field mission, I presume that you're already familiar with them?" cold, calculated, professional. That's how the person in front of him was, it felt very intimidating to Law and he couldn't help but to wonder if this was how his juniors had felt at his previous location. "Actually… I am a medic, I develop antidotes and antibiotics to counter the health problems monsters can cause", he answered, and was instantly met with a stare. There was some kind of emotion in that stare, but Law couldn't quite put his finger on it. 

The redhead suddenly turned around and started to walk away, without saying another word. "Uhh", "He wants us to follow, he'll show us both how it's done"

Law levelled his gaze on the girl, who was quick to take his hand, soon dragging him along. He noticed the not so friendly looks the girl was also receiving, his ears picking up whispers. "Sheltered… was hired just because… Parents…. Entitled...no use.. Can't…" , agent C herself didn't show any signs of hearing these unkind words, but Law doubted that she actually was that clueless. He was quickly starting to form an unpleasant picture of how his team was treated.

Their journey took them through the maze that was the branch's headquarters, to a separate steel door. One swift card read- okay not so swift card reading, those things absolutely suck, the trio entered the room. "Make sure that you have the basic equipment, containers, bag, a light armour, the special flashlight incase you can't see monsters that clearly and a first-aid kit", the red haired man said as he took a belt with a different compartments, swiftly putting it on, clipping it onto his hips. Law looked around the space to locate the said items, but soon saw a bag being offered to him by the youngest member of the team. Or presumably youngest. For all he knew, C could actually be the oldest. To his confusion, the young woman answered with a wide smile and a simple "You can customise it later", which honestly didn't answer to any of his questions. 

As opposed to R, who was clearly combat oriented with his choices, Law and C were a lot more sciency and laid back. The group of three exited the storage room, soon stopped by a woman with a red hair and blue eyes. Law immediately recognized her as a higher up and assumed the appropriate level of humility into his person. Only to have R walk to her and start a conversation as if there was nobody else present. "You're taking your team on a field mission? That's very rare of you Dick", the woman said and smiled kindly to the man, who answered with a soft expression himself. "M told me that it's about time for C to test her limits while L is new here and needs to be shown around", his voice was a lot warmer than it had been during the entire time Law had heard him speak. It was shocking and confusing to witness. The image he'd constructed based on the information that he'd received of the man, shattered immediately. 

The woman enveloped her arms around the man without a warning, and to the shock of the duo present, the man didn't draw back. A tiny gasp escaped from the lips of C, as her red haired coworker relaxed and even leaned his head to rest on the lady's shoulder, not saying a word further. Nothing more was said, the serenity of this scene spoke for itself. Couple other agents who were passing through the hall stopped to stare as well, shocked to see the stoic, broody and even antisocial agent behave that way. After a while, the woman let go of the man, but not before planting a gentle kiss on his forehead and ruffling his already messy looking hair. 

Without saying a word, R turned on his heels to lead his team outside, not caring of the prevailing stares of those who'd gathered around.

The trio boarded the car, each taking a seat that they deemed to be the most comfortable for each, silently waiting for one of them to start the conversation. Finally, C was the one to snap.

"Okay, I'll bite. Who was that woman? Why didn't you react the way you normally do? What was up with that weird atmosphere? I need answers!" the car fell silent for a while as the redhead threw his right leg over the left one and took a more comfortable position. Closing his eyes, as if not wanting to see the reactions of the two, he gave his answer. "That was my mother, Agent Susan Calico", he heard the sound of air being sucked in through teeth, instantly knowing that at least C was reacting to the whole thing with shock, "It was kept a secret so there wouldn't be any favouritism just because of my lineage. Though it seems that at least my last name was leaked". 

Law looked at the reaction of the youngest in the group, not entirely understanding why what the man had said was such a big deal. Sure, it was uncommon to see kids start working in the same company as their parents were in the modern times, but it still happened. And what was this talk about lineage anyway? R was just another agent wasn't he?

"YOU'RE PART OF THAT FAMILY?? THE ONE THAT'S BEEN CAPTURING MONSTERS FOR CENTURIES?? THE ONES WITH THAT VOICE THING??"

The redhead looked uneasy, he shifted visibly on his seat, and it seemed like he had indeed feared that this would happen. When he answered, his voice seemed to come from somewhere far. "Yes, I am part of the family that was part of founding the Union, all of my sisters also work in it, my grandmother also works for it, and I can use the tamer's command on the monsters, that's why I don't often carry capture gun with me", this answer made several gears turn in Law's brain, who hadn't even thought such thing to be a possibility. But then again, he wasn't often needed on the field, he wasn't that familiar with tamers.

When the car finally arrived the destination, the group had calmed down enough to get to work.

It took them a while to find the monster, which turned out to be a harmless looking lizard type. So naturally, C wanted to take care of it. R, thinking that the teenager could handle it, left her at it to check the potential victims. This turned out to be a grave mistake.

The second R's back was turned away, the monster grew in size and started to hiss aggressively. And while C was fast enough to dodge the now car sized reptile, L wasn't and so the monster managed to sink its teeth on his shoulder. R turned around just in time to see L slump against the wall, incapable of moving while C was trying to get away from the lizard.

Now that R saw its actual form, he cursed at his own incompetence.

Sanji opened the door to the shopping mall, he'd been planning on taking a look around before visiting his new workplace. What the blonde hadn't expected to see was the large green lizard with bulging red eyes, sharp teeth and a spiky tail that swung around dangerously. He also hadn't expected to see a young woman laying on the floor unconscious nor a black haired man lean onto a pillar and panting tiredly.

The second surprise to him was the red haired man who landed in front of him.

"THERE'S A WILD ANIMAL LOOSE HERE I MUST ASK ALL OF YOU TO LEAVE THIS BUILDING!" was all he yelled before lunging to the side, narrowly missing the long tongue that was now dripping acid onto the floor.

Had Sanji been alone, he would've ignored this clear order from this unknown man, but he was accompanied by Zoro, Luffy, Usopp, Chopper and Nami, and he had no idea whether or not they could even see the beast. So instead of fighting back, he simply followed the order of the clearly Union Agent and ushered his friends outside, silently hoping that the man was able to work things through.

Law wasn't in the best condition that he could've been. From the looks of it, the reptile was venomous to a degree, and no doubt it had just unleashed a load of toxins into his system. So he'd have only few hours at max to get the antidote so he'd survive. But he couldn't move a muscle. On top of it his shoulder was still bleeding and the younger agent was unconscious on the floor. So all he could do was watch how the red haired man battled against the reptile, trying to get enough distance to it.

The green reptile unexpectedly turned towards him once more, as if it had now realised that he had been bitten. And it started to inch closer with a hungry look in its eyes. Law tried to keep himself calm, but he'd also noticed that whatever the entity ended up licking would slowly dissolve. No doubt a mix of enzymes and acids.

The monster opened its large mouth, getting ready to strike him once more, to devour him completely. Law's vision started to blur.

Something red entered his vision. And then there was brightness.

C opened her eyes and got up to her elbows, slowly looking up from the floor where she'd ended up after dodging and tripping over. She saw how R jumped between the new agent and the monster that was clearly getting ready to eat the man and pulled up a soda can. She'd never seen R's face be like that. Distorted in anger, grief, panic. She could tell that the man wasn't being his usual, rationally thinking, self. 

" **_Get into the can_ **." there was something different to the way he said it, something demanding, feral. When the monster tried to scoot away, screeching as it did so, R snarled and repeated his order. After a while of battling of two wills, the monster was sucked into the canister and R offered it to C. He looked even more serious than usual. "Transfer it. Now. I need to take a look at L", shaking, C took out the capturing gun and pointed it at the soda can's mouth, swiftly sucking the mold green and grey monster in. When she turned to look at her fellow agent, she was shocked to see him kiss the newbie on the mouth before exposing his chest and doing something to his bloody shoulder.

She watched how R spat blood into another container before closing it firmly, his eyes looking tired, yet wild.

"I didn't expect to see a kojira in here, they're highly venomous when young. Let's move him to my house."

Law's eyes opened slowly, the first thing that he saw was an unfamiliar ceiling. It was unpainted wood, most likely pine or similar. His arm was sore and in enormous pain, from his foggy memory he could remember that the monster had gone out of control upon setting eyes on Agent C who'd been holding a container gun. Listening to the sounds of someone clearly lecturing someone, he deduced that his fellow agents had also survived. Then he listened more intensively.

"For the last time Cecilia, it wasn't a kiss, I wasn't making out with Agent L, I was giving him an antidote to the venom and he was unconscious", unmistakenly R's voice carried over from the room below, as his words registered in Law's mind, he felt like dying. "You could've just used a needle!" ahh agent C, please don't make it weirder. "I have a chronic fear of needles, I chose that type of medicine because of that, I didn't have needles and I panicked! I don't even know where I should've stuck that so I might've accidentally killed him with that stuff!" 

Law sat up and looked around in the bedroom, noting how clean it was and the collection of cute toys. It seemed like it could belong to a child or a teenaged girl. He picked up one peculiar item, a card, which clearly said "To my bestest brother Rick! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Law did a double take on the room, now realising that it belonged to the stoic agent R. Yet another small shock. Shaking his head, the raven got up in favour of going downstairs, lured by the smell of food.

Entering the room where the sweet and sour scent was coming from, agent L was surprised to see a group of people in there, he recognised his supervisor M and T and advisor SC, but there were a couple of people who he didn't know. Like a brown haired teenager who was hiding behind a large stuffed animal, a spiky red haired man who was scowling and a purple haired person of unidentifiable sex, baggy clothes truly were something else. Agent R was carrying few bags of takeaway food with Agent C, the two still arguing over what had happened.

"Oh! L! You're up! We called your roommate to tell them that you had a job related accident, totally my bad! I didn't know that kojiras would get agitated from peach colour", she said sheepishly to which R rolled his eyes. "It wasn't your fault Cecilia, if anything I should've noticed it sooner", was his answer as he placed the bags on the table, soon starting to divide the orders, "We got you the safest option available since we weren't sure what you'd like".

Agent M snatched one of the cubic packages, "Not really, the one who reported the monster should've waited around and given you these details, but taken how she has taken a dislike on R, it was given that she'd do this", he snapped the chopsticks apart, "She's been sent away by the way". Law took a seat, his eyes looking around in the surprisingly lightly coloured and homey room. This didn't go unnoticed by anyone else. 

"Yeah, you really wouldn't guess that R likes soft colours and cute things", T said as he munched on his soba noodles. Frankly speaking, it had been a shock to all of them when they'd arrived four hours ago to help the panicking C and the unusually expressive R, who was holding L on his arms. They'd never even imagined that the man would allow them into his house let alone invite them, but in that situation he wasn't being himself.

After a while of exploring, they'd all come to the conclusion that the reason why R was like he was was simply because of being shy and not wanting anyone to laugh at him because of his interests. Susan had also told them that her son was very sensitive to light, sounds and textures, which had been a huge red flag to Marco, who suspected that the man was undiagnosed with autism. Though upon asking whether or not he wanted to get a proper diagnosis, the redhead had denied and said that it was more important to make sure that his fellow agent would be alright.

He glanced into the red head's direction as the man was now eating sushi in a very sophisticated manner, all traces of his clear distress now gone. Or so one would believe if they didn't happen to notice the worried side glances he kept giving to agent L, who was eating his own portion carefully.

Marco, agent M, shot a meaningful look into the direction of the trio he'd taken with him. This trio consisted of agent E, Eustass Kidd, agent S, Spencer Bright, and agent K, Kacey Fazer. Kacey was well known for their ability to get people to relax around them, which was the reason why Spencer had been paired up with them and later on Eustass. Had R stayed closed off even with Cecilia around him, they would've moved him into that team as well. However, R had shown a lot of progress with C so the transfer hadn't been necessary even if it seemed like he only did the bare minimum. Cecilia had been telling him a lot of things that she'd learned of the man, like his preference towards certain colours when it came to his accessories and how you could tell that he liked someone. 

When Cecilia had called, panicking, Marco had been fearing for the worst, someone in the team dying which would've thrown R into discord and most likely closed himself off once more. He'd decided to take S, E and K with him to ensure that K would take interest on the man, and hopefully end up getting him out of his shell more. So far, it seemed like the agent was indeed intrigued.

Though that might've also been thanks to the way he handled his unusual roommate.

The said roommate was a gluttonous bombo which preferred to be called "Bonny", and who seemed to have taken a great liking to used shoes, which it was even now gnawing on. What had made this rather odd relationship between the agent and the monster even weirder was the fact that Bonny seemed to respect R a great deal to the point where it was actively trying it's best to control its urges to eat everything in sight. Bonny had even gone as far as learned basic human etiquette and greeted the guests with a simple bow instead of the usual bombo way of swallowing the new friend and spitting them out.

The said orange monster suddenly abandoned its meal of broken shoes in order to investigate the food at the table and without missing a beat, R held up a single sasshimi for it. Bonny took the sushi, thanking the man, and immediately waddled back to the corner to examine (and eat) the thing he'd just obtained.

It was at this point that K decided to strike.

"Next Saturday, bowling and then karaoke", they said to the table group, majority of them being more than aware of this weekly tradition of the company by now, "R, you're coming". R froze to his seat, eyes wide in confused fashion, food halfway to his lips. From the looks of it, he hadn't expected this kind of invitation. "I don't like loud things", he mumbled weakly to the person.

Week later, the Union found themselves to be staring at not one, but two monsters holding two grown men from the back of their shirts up in the bowling bar. It appeared that Agent K had somehow managed to befriend both Bonny the bombo and Bepo a polar bear like monster, who were roommates of agent R and agent L respectively. The two monsters dropped the duo down unceremoniously and told them to have fun, while the said men looked very displeased in being forced to come.

To many Union members, this was the first time they had even seen R in something that wasn't a suit, his orange-white striped boat neckline and grey hoodie being completely different from what they'd expected to see him wear. To C's glee, the redhead was wearing the blue and purple earrings she'd gotten to him as a present a while back, when he'd been assigned as her partner. L on the other hand was dressed in a yellow-black hoodie, and surprisingly enough, it seemed that he had tattoos on both of his hands that spelled "death", he also had piercings on his ears and was wearing golden earrings.

Couple of the workers weren't too happy to see R there, as they were used to him being distant and evasive. But soon enough their disdain turned into worry as they noticed the way the man was acting, how he flinched at the sounds, how he was constantly blinking, soon holding his head down in his hands. Katakuri, the manager of another compartment was the first one to go to the man, who was clearly in great distress. "Whoops, I forgot that you don't take light nor loud sounds too well-", was the not too apologetic voice of agent K the others heard, which made couple of things click together for them.

The office was always very bright and the white walls reflected light. It wasn't the quietest work environment.

R felt a hat fall onto his head, muffling some of the loudness. Opening his eyes, he saw that it also threw enough shadow on his eyes to make it easier for him to see. A confused side glance showed C, who was smiling apologetically at him. "Kacey and I thought that this would help you a bit", R blinked again, clearly taking a moment to look around the room and the people there. He smiled a little at the teen, adjusting the hat so it'd cover his ears more.

"Thank you"


	4. Yokai AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters: Kin'emon, Zoro, Law, Luffy, Nami, Robin, Usopp, Eustass Kidd, Heart Pirates, Kidd Pirates, C (Chizuru), S (Shunsui), K (Kohaku), G (Gorou), R (Ryuuichi)
> 
> Ships: Zoro/S ; R/Law
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of death, blood, and murder

It was a cold night when Law first saw him, the red haired man with porcelain pale skin and a dark brown kimono and a black hakama. He'd wanted to call out to the man, ask why he was there, but then he'd noticed what the person was doing. 

He'd seen Kin'emon do that exact same thing in front of a grave earlier. And the silence spoke for itself. The wind carried the atmosphere over to the surgeon, which made him shiver and attempt to wrap his disguise around himself better.

It was the type of sorrow that could blind a man, make them do terrible things. Law knew more than well that it was for the best to not approach this man, who was placing some food on the grave and some sort of rope for an unknown reason. The man turned around and for a brief moment, the surgeon saw the emptiest, most joyless, eyes he'd seen in his entire life. The wind picked up, swirling in the air stronger and rustling leaves, Law closed his eyes.

And when he reopened them, the man was gone.

The morning found Kin'emon staring at the offerings, his eyes wide as if they'd fall out of their sockets at any given second, pale as a bed sheet. The Wano citizen pointed at the grave, shaking violently like a leaf in the wind, but no sound would come out of his open mouth. Those who were present with him, half of the Straw Hats and the entirety of the Heart Pirates, walked closer to take a look at the thing curiously. Law squinted his eyes.

It was a couple of mochis, a bottle of something and a wreath weaved out of something red that looked disturbingly much like human hair. "There was a grave in here?" Zoro asked, looking confused as all he saw was an oddly shaped rock with offerings. A boyish chuckle made them turn around in search of the voice. Though none of them could locate the laughter. Zoro turned back at the grave.

… and came face to face with an unblinking demon mask, that was being worn by an unknown person wearing green kimono and dark grey hakama. His hair was brown, only parts of it gathered onto a loose bun. "Of course there's a grave here or otherwise aniki wouldn't be showing up here at all", he said as he shifted on top of another stone that could also possibly be a grave. "Aniki?", "Ryuuichi"

While Zoro and the rest of the people who weren't from Wano kept staring at the unknown person, who was still wearing a mask, Kin'emon kept breaking records on how pale a man could get.

"And who the hell are you?" Zoro continued, making the masked male eeped quietly. After a while of being obviously intimidated by the swordsman, the definitely younger man looked up directly at the said man. "Shunsui, I am one known as Shunsui", he chuckled nervously, "I was actually surprised to see that Ryuu didn't kill any of you considering how near you are to his lover's grave". Law took another look on the now verified grave, but he couldn't see any carvings that'd read as a name, and the ground looked untouched. If it was one, the person buried there had died a long time ago.

The alarmed grunt of the greenette made him look back, and the lack of the mystery man number two made him remember the redhead from the previous night.

Chuckles without a laugher echoed on the clearing long after the man was gone.

Kin'emon finally found his ability to speak, though his speech was slurred and he stuttered a lot as he told them to leave the area immediately. Upon being asked a reason, his eyes widened even more, which shouldn't have been physically possible. The wanoan shot a quick look around the area, as if to check that nobody else was there to witness them being there. "This wreath was made by a malicious yokai who terrorised these lands a long time ago, no doubt. He's the only man in this place who has such bright red hair and who'd even think of leaving something like this here", he said in a hushed tone, with a wild look on his face. Usopp perked up at the mention of the unfamiliar word, his long nose twitching in interest.

"Yokai? And what do you mean by terrorise?"

The raven took a long breath and started to tell the story.

"Long ago, this place was a thriving village, stories say that it's people made the most beautiful fabrics ever seen, and it was a wealthy place. Then, one day, a red haired demon arrived and without fail, he slaughtered everyone in the near proximity of it, without any reason at all. And once a year, it'd come back, without a fail, to destroy the buildings that people attempted to build, making sure that nothing would be left standing safe for this house. And with each passing year, he'd also leave behind a wreath plaited out of his own hair"

Law looked at the grave once more, the hair wreath that reflected the sunlight looked harmless and more like it was a promise or sort instead of a threat. It even had flowers and small ornaments in it. He looked back at the near hysterical man and raised his hand.

**_SLAP_ ** !

Kin'emon stared at the deadly doctor in shock and surprise, not having expected to be slapped in the face like that. "What was that for?" he asked in a confused voice, while Law simply pointed at the grave. For a moment the group was silent. "I saw him place these things last night, he didn't seem the type to kill an entire village filled with people, it was more like he was grieving", "You saw him?! And he didn't attack?!?" 

"I'm not sure that he even noticed me"

The brown haired man stared at the group in silence from his hiding place in the trees, couple times he thought that the long nosed man and the green haired man had noticed him. As he felt the tree branch shake ever so slightly from more weight being added to it, he glanced to his side. "A, Chizu, I didn't think that you'd come", he said softly to the young woman with moonlight pale hair and bright sky blue eyes. The woman moved some of her light pink tinted hair behind her ear, eyes focused on the group in front of the run down house. "Is that the one Shun? The dark man with a white hat? Is he the one who has a familiar scent?" she asked from the man, who took off his mask at long last. Under the mask was a young boyish face with bright green eyes, he also had a pair of long horns on his forehead, and sharp tusks. It appeared that the mask's horns were hollow to allow him to wear the thing over his real features more comfortably. 

"Un, he has very similar smell to lady Kazuyo, though it's more masculine than hers", "That's to be expected, he is a man after all" 

Shunsui rubbed his face, slowly erasing the powder that hid his facial markings, soon showing magenta stripes on his eyes and jaw. "I don't really understand it myself, but I think that Ryuu should meet him", he said as he looked at his friend and older sister in all but blood. Chizuru scoffed as she adjusted her purple obi that kept her light blue kimono on. "He'd rather not meet anyone new right now, you know how his siblings are, trying to find him a mate and what not", she stated carefully, trying not to be heard nor spotted, "Let's go".

Usopp had a feeling that something was out there and looked towards the trees. To his surprise, he saw a woman with magenta facial markings and a man with horns jump from one tree branch to another, clearly on their way somewhere else. He was fairly sure that the man was the same one who'd been sitting on the stone and talked to them, but he wasn't entirely sure. That man wore a mask, this one on the other hand had horns that most definitely would make such things impossible. He could only hope that the duo wasn't working for Kaidou.

Chizuru and Shunsui travelled fast towards their own little lair on top of the mountain that the pirates were residing the root of. There lied that oh so familiar gate that connected the outside world to the hidden house that no mortal could enter without an invitation. The very luxurious and traditional wanoan styled house seemed to have it all from tatami rooms to beautifully painted and carved walls, though it clearly lacked the sense of warmth and security that it once held. The brunette and the strawberry blonde made their ways easily through the maze like rooms, each more beautiful than the previous one, until they reached one with a simple low table.

On the table were multiple dishes made of fish, rice, vegetables, meat and tofu, and empty plates, clearly waiting for the two. And at the end of the table was a red haired man with magenta coloured makeup drinking tea from a grey cup. The man didn't bother looking at them, he clearly knew that they were there already and was waiting for them to start the conversation, as he always did.

It was something that had been instilled in him since young age, to not speak until you'd heard everyone else, such was the way of his family, his species.

Shunsui took a seat.

"There's a group of people staying in the old house of lady Kazuyo", he said as casually as he could, his eyes glazing over the exposed wrist of the doll like man and more over the white bandages wrapped around it, covering the majority of his arm. He met the man a lot after the incident had happened, so he wasn't entirely sure why the man wore them at this point, honestly he wasn't even sure if they were bandages since they were slim lace like things. Chizuru had just told him that something had happened and as the result Ryuuichi never took off those things. "Is that so", the soft male voice answered as the younger man swiftly placed some food onto his plate.

Chizuru followed the suite, though she made sure to have a little everything on her plate out of politeness. "Mm, I was so surprised to see that you let them be there!" the chunari hannya mumbled between his bites. Chizuru rolled her eyes, preparing a napkin so she could scold the young man later while being the older sibling. From the corner of her eye, she could see how the eldest one present was keeping his eyes firmly closed so he wouldn't look at the way the other one was eating. She was once more reminded of the fact that Ryuuichi was a traditionally raised man from a somewhat well off family of onis.

He never spoke about the position of his family in the hierarchical structure of the yokai, but the way I spoke and acted hinted that he was something between a servant and a daiyoukai. But he was a lot more humble than the daiyoukai were and more polite, but he was still very powerful on his own right.

What made it a lot harder was the fact that the redhead looked almost completely human. He did have your normal sharper ears and the facial markings along with long and sharp nails, but that was about it. But then again, it was the form he seemed to prefer. For all they knew, he could have horns or a tail or hidden markings on his body, they didn't know.

"Is everything alright Chizuru?" 

Chizuru blinked, returning to the regular world she resided in. She turned her eyes on the man, who was sitting still, staring at him with those yellow eyes of his dyed with concern while a smaller oni who was supporting horns was climbing over his head. "Uh, yeah, I just spaced out. You know how it is", Ryuu nodded as he caught the mischievous child that was about to fall with his right hand, the startled little thing looked at him in wonder and slight fear as the male hadn't even turned to look at him. The little monster was so afraid that it didn't even dare to scream. Ryuuichi turned towards it, his face neutral as per usual (which must've been terrifying for the kid) and extended his hand.

The pale hand landed softly on the platinum blonde locks that he ruffled affectionately. "Be little bit more careful the next time okay", was all the older oni murmured before turning back at his companions. "Junko's son, she's visiting currently, though she is in the other room talking to our mother", both Shunsui and Chizuru nodded as an answer, they were more than used to the man's family visiting him at the oddest of times. Though they were surprised to see that Junko and Ryuuichi were so close despite the fact that the moonlight haired oni with ice blue eyes was only his half sister and a lot older than him at that. And by close, they meant that there was careful respect and mild relaxation on both sides when they were in the same room instead of the tension that eldest sister Michiko and Ryuuichi had between them.

Most of the time, Ryuu got along with his siblings just fine, and he even talked about them often with a gentle tone, which wasn't usual for yokai who weren't the more tribal type like the ookami were.

A blur went past them silently, stealing some of the roasted meat off of the table. The sound of the said meat being feasted on made its way into their ears, but it was shrugged off. It was hard to eat when you had sickles as hands and feet. "Nice to see you again Kohaku", the redhead finally said to the weasel who popped its head above the table to take a quick look at the other things that were available. The sickle weasel seemed to smile at the group before it attempted to help itself on some tofu. "Gorou isn't here yet?", "No, I haven't seen that mischievous child today" 

"He said that he found a nice couple who couldn't have any kids so he's staying at their home now", Chizuru explained as she glanced towards the window, having a bad feeling in her stomach.

Couple of weeks passed from the odd encounter with the masked man, and the pirates were still staying at the run down house that was near the unnamed graves though Kin'emon really wanted to leave the area claiming it to be too dangerous for them to stay there. They did see a few glimpses of a red haired man here and there, but he never approached them and it seemed more like he was making sure that the grave wasn't damaged, but after a while the person stopped coming all together.

It was around that time that Luffy had arrived at Wano with the rest of the crew and managed to get to the meeting place with Law and Kin'emon and by then, they'd all forgotten about the whole ordeal.

It wasn't until the next month or so that they were reminded of it when they ended up being wounded badly after Luffy had broken out of the jail/concentration camp with Eustass Kidd and the missing scabbards and were on the verge of bleeding out and falling unconscious when some of them saw a familiar looking man dressed in green and grey. Before the group lost their consciousness, they could hear distant screams of terror.

Shunsui stared at the pirates with furrowed brows. He couldn't understand them. At all. Why were these people fighting for a land that wasn't even theirs to begin with? For what purpose were they actively putting all this time, effort and energy out? He kept observing them nevertheless, it was as if some kind of force was telling him not to look away for even one second. In his mind, he was trying to convince himself that he was merely doing it in order to keep an eye on these strangers, so he could let Ryuu know what was going on in his lands, but no matter what he did or where he was, he was always compelled to follow the green haired one who got lost in the oddest of places.

And somehow, whenever he mentioned this mortal, he'd get all flustered and bothered, which seemed to amuse Ryuu greatly even if he didn't say a word.

And now he was there once again, watching these people fight. It was a losing fight honestly, they were outnumbered, yet he couldn't help it, he wanted to cheer for them, he wanted them to win. So when the tide turned for the worse, he turned to look at Chizuru with pleading eyes. The nukekubi sighed in defeat and glanced to the horizon, at the setting sun. And they moved out as a unit.

It didn't take too much to scare the people off, not with Chizuru's ability to detach her own head to allow it chase after people in favour of sucking these mortals dry. Despite their tough outerior, these so called Beasts were nothing but cowards at heart. Shunsui turned to look at the tired group and how their eyes were hazy from both exhaustion and blood loss. Since Ryuuichi hadn't attacked them at that woman's grave, it was most definitely okay to take them to the house to recover right? "Chizu, can you open a gateway to aniki's house?" he asked quietly.

Ryuuichi sat in the lotus position, his body relaxed and mind free to wander, he'd be able to ponder on the world and where it was going, how its people were, the state of his own being and what he truly felt. Or that's what he thought that he'd be able to do.

In a flash of bright light, several bodies appeared into his peaceful tatami room. Human bodies, as he observed with a clear disdain on his face. He didn't need to wait for long to find out the culprit of this as both Shunsui and Chizuru stepped through the very same shining tear in reality. He stared at them without saying a word. Waiting. Waiting for an explanation that'd reveal why his tatami room was now slowly being tainted with the blood of mortals.

"These humans want to liberate our lands from the man who believes himself to be indestructible", Shunsui said, confidence radiating from his body much to the surprise of the older yokai, who'd only seen him react shyly and meekly, never quite sure of himself, "I want to give them a fighting chance and to allow them to heal without the fear of being attacked". Ryuuichi took a look at the humans once more. He did recognise some of the faces that were in the pile, he had seen them at the area where his beloved was in her eternal sleep. The most intriguing one to him was the tanned man with body paint that looked like they'd been made to celebrate something. Other ones to catch his eyes were a blonde man with a curly eyebrow, the green haired man with earrings, a young man with a bright red yukata and a scar neath his left eye, a masked stranger and a red haired man with painted face. But Ryuuichi kept this feeling of curiosity under control, not allowing it to surface.

The red haired yokai roused to his feet, steadily gazing at the young chunari hannya with his yellow eyes.

"These mortals will be the responsibility of both you and Chizuru. You may take control over the servants for the time being."

Law's eyes flickered open as the sounds of arguing carried over to his ears, ah.. It was the swordsman of the Straw Hats and their chef… He then realised that he’d been laid to rest in an unfamiliar place, but he could’ve sworn that they were losing the battle. Were they saved? By whom? The tattooed man sat up, confusion written all over his face as he counted silently his men along with the Kidd Pirates and the Straw Hats. It didn’t appear that anyone had died. Which was a relief.

Soon, Kin'emon shrieked next to him, his arm springing up to point towards the doorway, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. Law followed his gaze, his own eyes landing on a young man with horns and tusks, whose arms were folded, hands hidden inside the sleeves of his kimono. The brunette kept staring at them for a while, until he was certain that he had the attention of all of them. His bright green eyes weren't too amused nor impressed by the babbling of the samurai, but he was patient enough to wait for the man to stop talking hysterically about demons. 

"I came to notify you that we have prepared food for you, now if you'd kindly follow me", he said with an even voice, immediately turning around. Law got up slowly, his eyes not leaving the man for a second. "You're the mask guy Zoro mentioned right?", "My name is Shunsui, I am part of those who are under the rule of the Himura clan".

Law watched how Luffy jumped closer to the man who was still facing the hallway. Slowly, the residents of the room, Law now noticed that they were all men, moved behind the man, who soon enough started to lead them through the corridors. "The master of this house, Ryuuichi, won't be joining us for any meals as he has zero trust on your kind", the man said after a while of silently leading them forward, "Chizuru will be accompanying the ladies from the other side of the house".

Not surprising anyone, Kin'emon threw yet another confused and scared fit, which was swiftly brought to an end by their guide, who was clearly very much irritated by the wanoan. "Your reaction to aniki is unjust, mortal, you'd also go on a tantrum if you'd arrive to the home of your lover and found her dead with the building reeking of her murderers", the annoyed snarl that made its way out of the man's throat was more than enough to bring attention to him and to shut the older looking man up effectively. Shunsui opened the door to a traditional looking room, where one could already see the missing members of the pirates, happily chattering with a pale beauty. Sanji immediately zoomed towards the woman, only to be attacked by seemingly a weasel with sickles, which soon landed between the pervert cook and the lady, leaving out annoyed hiss.

"Thank you Kohaku", the woman said to the weasel, who shockingly enough responded to her with human words.

The pirates took a seat on the opposite side of the room of the clearly supernatural entities, safe for Luffy, who never had any regard towards anyone.

As the groups dug into the food, none of them really paid attention to the trio of unknown origins who merely observed them with interest, until Luffy asked them very pointed question. "So this Ryuuguy… Why doesn't he really join us?"

"LUFFY!"

The trio seemed to turn into stone, smiling that type of smile that the rest of your entire being is disowning and trying to make sure that it's never affiliated with it ever again. The room temperature seemed to drop as the atmosphere in general turned awkward and heavy. This went entirely unnoticed by the youngest captain, who was gleefully stuffing his face with food. After a while of either poking or silent bickering between the two, Shunsui was the one to sigh and explain things while Chizuru kept looking like she yearned for oblivion.

"Couple hundreds of years ago, kinda short time for us, aniki fell in love with a human known as Kazuyo, the two saw one another every other day, aniki bringing her beautiful clothes made of finest of silk and her gifting him with accessories she'd made herself like the wooden earrings he wears to this day and hair ornaments as she loved his long red hair", Shunsui's face was grim and head hung low, "Then, one day, when aniki returned to her, his intention being to take her with him so they could be wed, he arrived to her home and found it at disarray, fearing the worst, Ryuuichi ran through the house in search for her…… But he was too late. In that moment, he stopped thinking rationally, his nose picked up the scent of multiple humans, and rage filled his mind as resentment settled into his heart. He sought out the village where the people were from…. And killed everyone there. He then, just for good measure, eradicated every single human in the near proximity of the house. And arranged a funeral for his beloved. After that, he has been avoiding humans as much as possible, rarely leaving this place".

The pirates stared at the man in silence, half of the Straw Hats and the entirety of the Heart Pirates then moving their attention on Kin'emon, whose story about a killer yokai was their previous knowledge regarding the entity.

"Hundred years? That's a long time to carry a grudge. He must be real old by now", "He's actually pretty young on yokai terms, in human years he's probably in his early twenties" 

Shunsui had to admit, the way the young pirate captain was capable of stuffing food into his being was rather impressive in an odd and gross way. The human soon stood up and stretched before flashing a grin to their way.

"So when can I meet this Ryuuguy?"

Ryuuichi groaned as he curled into a ball under his covers. He absolutely loathed the scent of humans that kept violating his nose and he wanted nothing more than to make them leave as soon as possible. It made him remember things that he'd rather not remember at all, old memories and the feelings that were attached to the said memories resurfacing and making him hurt once more. If it wasn't for the fact that he wanted to, needed to, keep his lover's memory alive, he would've walked down the path of self destruction long ago.

Another thing that he didn't fancy were the sounds that these mortals made, all this yelling and screaming just hurt his ears too much.

Tossing and turning on the futon, the frustration settled into him deeper and deeper as the oni closed his eyes. The voice of a yell coming closer and closer at a speed that shouldn't have been possible for a mere mortal. 

**_And then it crashed through the wall_ ** . 

Chizuru, Kohaku and Shunsui all stared in terror at the gaping hole in the wall. They knew what room the human was in, they could sense the anger through it. The trio stood there, unmoving like statues, their eyes glued onto the said hole, waiting for something to happen. It was quiet. Too quiet. They would've felt a lot better if they'd heard yelling, or annoyed grumbling, literally anything else than silence. Other than the giggling of the madman who'd just flown through the air and crashed into the wall, making the hole.

"Oh hi, who the hell are you?" 

Shunsui paled as he heard the madman talk to the oni, who notably despised humans. Both he and Chizuru flinched when the door to the room flung open revealing very annoyed owner of the house with his teeth bared and scleras red. It was clear that he was barely holding himself together and with more annoyances, he'd probably completely discard his human appearance and reveal his actual form. A nervous laugh escaped from Shunsui, who opened his mouth to talk. "Don't. I need space and sustenance or I'll tear that insolent and loud man into shreds", Shunsui's mouth clopped shut immediately as the angry redhead walked past him.

He would've been lying if he'd ever claimed not to be slightly intimidated by the oni, but saying that he wasn't curious of how his magenta makeup would change in his actual form along with his hair. After all, the true form of a yokai told volumes of the power levels of the said yokai, the more perfect their human disguise was, the more powerful they usually were, and the yokai society was all about the power.

Chizuru turned around to follow after the male, who made his way towards the dining room, eager to either help or prevent any blood path (she'd decide when they arrived). She'd known Ryuuichi long enough to know that it wouldn't take too long for him to calm down once more. As they entered the room, she saw the screeching fearful man the tanned man had once slapped shriek and back off several meters, effectively hiding behind the mentioned captain. She glanced at the oni, who stared at the untidy table in disgust and distress before he clapped his hands, calling for the servant spirits to clean it up. Once the room was tidy once more, and Kin'emon suffering from yet another shock induced heart attack, Ryuuichi took a seat.

Law stared at the reflection of himself from the alarmingly clean table as he held onto the plate he'd managed to snatch to himself before the critters, or whatever they were, cleaned up the table. With the most perfect pokerface that he could muster, he watched how new food appeared onto it. And then he made the mistake of looking up.

From across the table, he saw a porcelain pale man with magenta makeup, bright red hair and a pair of yellow orbs as his eyes. The man didn't spare a glance into his direction in favour of moving food onto his plate with chopsticks, as he moved his wooden earrings with a painted sunrise followed the suite. The pale woman, Chizuru took a seat as well, soon the other two yokais also joining them for a bite in silence.

The difference in the movements of each individual told volumes of them as personalities; yet, from the way none of them spoke, the tension was made more than clear. The definitely younger ones were waiting for the older man.

"When I said that these mortals would be your responsibility, I also meant that you were to keep them under control, Shunsui, Chizuru", the duo shuddered as the words fell from the man's lips. The redhead refused to even acknowledge the humans who were present in the room, which definitely would tick someone off. Neither Chizuru nor Shunsui answered to the man, neither of them tried to even explain themselves. Overall, to Law it seemed like this man was the equivalent of a captain for this group.

"To be fair, nobody can keep Straw Hat-ya under control", he said, almost immediately regretting it as the redhead turned his attention onto him. The man kept on staring at him silently, measuring him up and down with unreadable eyes. Law felt a chill go down to his spine. He watched how the person stood up and walked to his side of the table. With a swift hand movement, he took a firm hold of his chin, yanking his head to force him to look directly into the man's eyes.

Now that the man was this close, Law could make out the fading red glow that was still in the scleras of the oni, he had no idea of what it meant, but it surely couldn't be good. He then noticed how the pupil turned from a small dot into a large one. The captain's eyes darted from one part of the face to another in confusion and panic, his nose picking up the rather intriguing scent of wild flowers, rain and something else that he couldn't quite put into words.

The raven felt how the man was looking into his being, his eyes drilling into his very essence in somewhat uncomfortable way. How his head was being led to look into different directions so the redhead could look at him.

Then without a warning, the man leaned in closer, making Law almost panic from just how close he was. "You're an interesting one, human", he murmured with a low voice before letting go of the captain, who left out the breath he didn't even know he'd been holding. As he stared in confusion at the male as he walked back to his own side and resumed to eating, the raven noticed the shook facial expressions of the man's companions. The sickle weasel's expression might've been more amused that shocked though, he didn't know how to read the emotions of an animal(?) after all.

The silence fell heavy onto the group present. Not a single person moved while the red head simply kept eating as if he hadn't just done that.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT RYUU?!?" Shunsui screeched suddenly, jumping onto his feet. The suddenly calm and relaxed posture of the formerly angry man was more than enough to confuse him, and on top of this, his older brother figure had just done something that looked like he was was openly expressing romantic interest on another man in a very bold manner. Ryuuichi turned to look at him, his eyes wide and the end of the chopsticks still in his mouth, while making a confused sound. It was more than clear that he had no idea of what the previous scene looked like nor was he aware of the fact that the human, he'd just looked at closer, was clearly having a confusion induced out of body experience. For the first time in a long while, Shunsui came to the conclusion that Ryuuichi was an oblivious idiot who needed to be locked into a room for his own good or he'd accidentally flirt with every single person in the world and create a cult. Knowing the man, he'd be the last one to know of it.

"Are you interested in that human person? Romantically?" Ryuuichi put his chopsticks down carefully before he turned his attention back to Shunsui. "I merely find him to be both intriguing and physically attractive for a mortal, there aren't many people, yokai or not, who'd dare to even talk to me in such manner", the oni's response didn't confirm nor deny anything. It was as if he himself wasn't aware of having that kind of interest on the man. As Shunsui was pondering about this, he failed to notice the mischievous smirk that made its way onto the lips of the older yokai as the male's posture also shifted.

Law noticed how the sleeve of the man fell down to his elbow as he started to lean onto his hand, revealing the carefully wrapped wrist. The entire scenario felt odd to him. Maybe it was the silence of one Eustass Kidd, maybe it was the otherworldly aura that these creatures had, maybe he was still feeling that confusing panic-like state where he felt like his heart was about to burst. The captain also couldn't help but to keep staring at the older(?) man. It was as if he'd been enchanted or cursed to keep staring at him. Although he was full, he felt insatiable hunger for something else, and intensively observing the redhead made it become bearable. His fellow captain was probably immune to this weird spell as he kept his eyes on all of them, switching his attention to whoever happened to move or speak, clearly trying to evaluate them. 

"So, Shunsui… How about your clear interest on the mortal with three Swords, green hair, serious face and 'godly body'?" from the way the line was said, it was more than clear that the oni was teasing the young yokai, who immediately turned red from being flustered. "I.. I… I… you…"

The smirk of the man widened into a full blown grin and he kept pushing the matter with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Finally, after several minutes of gentle teasing, the brunette, whose face was now capable of challenging tomato in redness, stomped away muttering about bullies and how he couldn't believe that Ryuuichi would do this to him. Law still kept staring at the man, who said in a low gentle voice, so much different from the low half growl he'd used to talk to him, that the younger man would be fine. He couldn't help but to wonder what on earth even was the dynamic of this group. One second everyone acted as if the redhead was the scariest thing on the planet, the next they were teasing one another without mercy.

What an odd group indeed.

Shunsui stomped through the halls, feeling the heat on his cheeks from embarrassment. He'd do anything to avoid any of the pirates right now, to ensure that nobody could see how flustered he was. On his way to his own room, which Ryuuichi had prepared for him a century or so ago, he made one wrong turn. That wrong turn took him to the dojo area, where a certain swordsman was looking around. As the human kept looking at the multitude of weapons, Shunsui ducked and hid away. From his hiding place, the still red in the face yokai could still see the green haired man, how he kept a respectable distance from the swords that were on the wall, clearly aware of their nature. Seeing the man's wide back made the chunari hannya's chest tighten as a dreamy yet somewhat melancholically serious expression made its way to his young face. Unconsciously, he raised his hand up to his face, slowly stroking his tusks in thought. Long ago, he'd seen a human couple do something with their mouths, it had seemed nice and very passionate, the two had clearly been in love. He'd asked Ryuuichi what it was and the oni had explained that it was a human custom to show romantic love to one another and it was called kissing. The older yokai had told him that there were multiple ways and places humans kissed one another to show affection, back of the hand, cheek, forehead, mouth, and they all had a slightly different meaning to them.

When Shunsui asked him if he'd also done it, the red head's eyes had turned distant and sorrowful, like he was watching at something that was happening on the other side of a veil he could never move away from his line of sight. The young yokai had immediately apologised and left the room.

But the yearn to do these things with someone had stayed, and the need to know what it was like was stronger now than ever. The other thing that he'd also wanted to experience was yet another oddity of humans he'd witnessed called hand holding. And the longer he stared at the greenette who was so close, yet so far, his hand started to itch.

This was the sight Robin and Nami came across on their little trip of exploring the house with seemingly endless rooms. The ginger woman wanted to call out to the male, ask him what he was doing, but the former assassin was quick to point out the way the man was staring into the room. The woman herself had recognised the yearning look on that young face, though she wasn't entirely sure of who exactly the man was looking at. 

That was until Zoro suddenly peeked his head out of the room. 

"What are you doing?" the simple question was more than enough to startle Shunsui who took multiple steps back, his face immediately returning to a more pinkish shade as he so did. "Aha ahahaha ha ha- you startled me, mortal", he said, clearly attempting to keep up the more high class speech he'd possibly adopted from the red haired yokai. Zoro's brows furrowed. "Zorojuro. You can call me Zorojuro", he said slowly to the man whose own name was near identical to his previous sword he'd received from its previous owner, Ryoma. The man sputtered as he hadn't expected suddenly being introduced to the swordsman he'd grown to fancy.

After a while of the yokai stuttering, he seemed to give up and soon was talking normally, though still blushing.

Robin stared at the two men as they spoke, noting the shy gestures of the younger looking one while Zoro was being his clueless self. To her, it was one of the cuter things she'd seen in her life. She felt a weight appear onto her shoulder, which made her look. The weasel with sickle feet, Kohaku, had climbed up her being in favour of seeing better, it's dark eyes glued on the duo. "Well would you look at that", it muttered, surprising the ravenette, "Ryuu wasn't just messing around with his comments. Shun is very much crushing on the ronin".

"I saw the weapons on the walls, who do they belong to?" Zoro asked as he and the brunette went to the room he'd just exited from. The yokai was playing with the sleeves of his yukata out of nervous habit, was this a date? Was he on the date thing humans apparently did? Seeing the katanas that the swordsman pointed out, Shunsui immediately felt kinship with the man as he too loved these weapons above all. "These ones are Ryuuichi's, they're made out of his own fangs like is a tradition, or that's what he told me. But he hasn't fought with them for a long while", "Not since the death of that woman?"

To say that the chunari hannya was surprised to hear that the human had been listening to his story was an understatement. He was honestly shocked to learn this. "I know that he used the razor floss to destroy the humans instead of the sword-", the brunette noticed the confusion that was written all over Zoro's face, "- It's a very thin, nearly invisible thread of steel, it's very sharp to the point where it cuts through you unnoticeably". The greenette nodded slowly, unsure of what to think of this new information.

"The rest of these weapons were gained through conquest, Ryuuichi was the one to widen the territory of the Himura clan, these weapons belonged to the various yokai he defeated, and beheaded", Shunsui continued, "Actually that spear over there belonged to my father".

Zoro glanced at the direction of the smaller man as he mentioned the previous owner of the spear. Nothing in the way he spoke not acted hinted that he was bitter. Actually he seemed happy in a way. "Dad was a good warrior but a terrible father, always thinking about expanding the territory, and punishing me for not being as obsessed as he was. When he lost to Ryuu, he said that it was my duty to avenge him but…", Shunsui looked down at the floor, "I couldn't help but to think that Ryuu was cool and then when he walked over… He just offered me a place to stay in". The two stood there for a while, Zoro actively suppressing his inner need to embrace the brunette. His other desires included testing whether or not the boyish man's tusks and horns were sharp and how soft his hair was. Weird. Instead, he tried to aggressively pay more attention to the shy yokai's explanation of the different weapons and their past users. He did like the man's tenor a lot, but listening to it made it a lot harder for him to keep himself from doing what he wanted to. 

Shunsui was fairly sure that he was just boring the human out of his mind, and he was about to ask if the man would like to be escorted to the other side of the house where the rest of the humans should've been, when he felt how the large hand took a hold of his own. The brunette panicked.

"... Sorry, I'm not sure what came over me", Zoro said clumsily, but to his surprise, the other man didn't flinch nor act like he wanted him to let go. Instead, he saw the yokai staring at the hand he was holding in awe, his brilliant green orbs shining. "You have so big hands-", the admiring tone made the swordsman flush, it wasn't every day someone talked about his hands in this way. To his utter shock, Shunsui ended up taking his hands in order to look at both of them more closely, openly admiring them.

To the yokai, whose hands were always soft due to the regenerative abilities, Zoro's rough skinned hands were fascinating things to look and feel, the traces of the tiny cuts and old scars being especially interesting to the brunette, who was tracing them with his fingers. His eyes were locked on the said hands, sparkling with interest and fascination, his former shyness being completely forgotten. Shunsui was a young yokai who'd never seen a battle between two of his own kind, his own skin was void of marks like these. He knew that humans scarred a lot easier than yokai did, were hurt by a lot more things than the yokai kind was, but to him this oddity was part of the reason why he was so fascinated and interested in them. The battle hardened ronin who stood before him, completely silent and confused about what he was doing, was his direct opposite in this way, and it was part of the reason why he fancied this human in particular.

Scars could tell a lot about their carrier, or that's what Shunsui believed. Interested in the story of the green haired man, the yokai kept tracing them, inching closer and closer to the man himself.

Zoro could tell that the young man wasn't completely aware of what he was doing, the brunette was so concentrated on tracing his skin with his finger tips that he didn't even notice that he was practically in his arms. Not that the swordsman would've been against it. It wasn't until the chunari hannya was running his fingers along the scar that had formed onto his left eye that he was snapped out of it. Green eyes widening from sudden realisation, mouth ajar, frozen in place. "I.. Uh...umm…", Zoro didn't hesitate. While the yokai was trying to find an excuse for what he'd been doing, he wrapped his arms around the male and closed his eyes. His cheek gently brushed against the brown hair briefly, confirming its softness and silky texture.

The smaller man's muscles tensed up, Zoro could feel the heat of the blood that was actively rushing towards the yokai's head. He felt the heartbeat of the entity against his own chest. He'd had to bow down a bit to be able to comfortably envelope the man into his arms, but the greenette didn't really mind that. For him, this just made the horned man a lot cuter, along with the stuttering that had followed. After a while, Zoro felt a pair of hands wrap around his waist and squeeze him midriff.

He smiled, guess that it wasn't a one sided thing after all. 


End file.
